THE OOLOGIST. 



27 



Mr. Taylor came to California with 

 his pai'ents when he was but a year old 

 and has remained in the Golden State 

 ever since seeking out the nesting sites 

 ■of Aquila chrysaetos, among other 

 things. He attended the University of 

 the Pacitic at San Jose, and afterwards 

 took a course in law at a prominent 

 Law College. He has the make-up of a 

 journalist and has done excellent ser- 

 vice on several of the prominent San 

 Francisco dailies, and for some time 

 was editor and proprietor of the Ala- 

 meda "Lantern," Avhose rays reflected 

 the scintillations from his pen. 



In September 1893 he began the pub- 

 lication of the Nidiologist, which has 

 gained for itself a reputation of which 

 any one might feel proud. Mr. Taylor 

 has contributed many articles to scien- 

 tific papers in years past, among them 

 The OoLOGiST, Ornithologist and Oologist 

 and others. Several months since a 

 valuable and entertaining article from 

 his pen on the California Condor ap- 

 peared in the San Francisco Chronicle. 



But amid his literary labors Mr. Tay- 

 lor tiuds time for recreating himself in 

 his "Eagle country" and elsewhere. At 

 the present day there is probably no 

 collector in America who annually col- 

 lects as many sets of Golden Eagles' 

 eggs as does the subject of this sketch. 

 While other and less fortunate collectors 

 hie themselves weekly around the cir- 

 cuit of Eagles' nests, some of which have 

 withstood the storms of years, and re- 

 turn emptier than before going,this lucky 

 personage spends a week collecting his 

 annual "rents," his tenants awaiting 

 his visits with resigned fate! Other eq- 

 ually desireable species have come un- 

 der the hand of his "searching gaze," 

 — among them the White-tailed Kite. In 

 1893 Mr. Taylor with complete parapher- 

 nalia made a journey into the mountains 

 inhabited by the California Condor but 

 his efforts were unrewarded as the rug- 

 ged cliffs and precipices made "naviga- 



tion" a dillicult matter. Still he lives in 

 hopes! 



To those M'ho have had the pleasure 

 of his friendship Mr. Taylor is one of 

 those genial, whole-souled, ever-pleas- 

 ant bodies who gladdens the nature of 

 any Avho may cross his path, and the 

 most interesting and homelike places in 

 his hospitable house is his "den," and 

 in wliose home is not this mysterious 

 room the same? But the curios of his 

 "den" are supplemented by the many 

 odd, interesting things which drift the 

 way of the editor. The suggestive 

 cabinet in one corner holds a wealth of 

 those gems which sparkle beneath the 

 eye of the ardent collector and several 

 cases of mounted birds invite inspec- 

 tion. 



Mr. Taylor is a member of the Cooper 

 Ornithological Club and was recently 

 elected President of that organization 

 for 1895. The accompanying photo- 

 graph which the subject permitted to be 

 taken at an unguarded moment is be- 

 fore us, wearing perhaps a little more 

 serious an expression than is natural, 

 which may be ascribed to the fact that 

 it was made on the morning succeeding 

 a 3.80 a. m. session of "egg-trading," a 

 very commendable thing in itself! 



Mr. Taylor is no "closet" naturalist 

 and will no doubt acknowledge that 

 "trading" eggs is a perfectly legitimate 

 and enjoyable diversion. And to which 

 we will all respond "Correct!" 



But as the Editor of the Nidiologist 

 has gone East you will know the rest,so 

 we desist and subscribe ourselves. 



XYZ. 



Wise and Otherwise. 



At this season of the year it is emi- 

 nently proper to review the experiences 

 of the past campaign, and to take an 

 invoice of stock preparatory to the ap- 

 proaching season. In recalling the var- 

 ious adventures incident to last year's 

 collecting, the thought most forcibly 



