THE OOLOGISl^:; 



29 



the prize of my infant collection. I 

 had read that Crows sometimes lay 

 seven eggs, but I knewif it was time it 

 was in Florida, Michigan, or California, 

 while I lived in Illinois and hence never 

 expected to find so large a set, but 

 here were the eggs being lowered to me 

 by my companion. I stretched up to 

 receive the box, fearing lest some ac- 

 cident might happen to deprive me of 

 my treasure. How much to be pitied 

 are you veteran collectors who can no 

 longer rejoice in the finding of a fine 

 set of eggs so common as those of the 

 Crow. At last the box swung into my 

 hands and I gently untied the small 

 rope by which the eggs had been 

 lowered, and then carefully placed the 

 box on the ground in front of me, tell- 

 ing my friend to drop the ball of rope 

 to me before he began his descent. He 

 dropped the ball fairly into my hands, 

 but though I have been the catcher of 

 the Virden Reliables, the crack team of 

 the county for several seasons, I muffed 

 the ball, which bounded out of my 

 hands and dropped fairly on the box 

 with a dead thud which thrilled through 

 my entire being. Two eggs survived 

 the catastrophe, and I am still on the 

 search for a set of seven eggs of one 

 Crow's laying, though I am satisfied 

 that Illinois Crows do sometimes lay 

 that large a complement. 



Later in the season I had a piece of 

 good luck in connection with the nest 

 last mentioned. While rambling in 

 the grove in May, as I approached the 

 tree containing the nest, a Cooper's 

 Hawk made an angry dash at me, ut- 

 tering the clacking notes characteristic 

 of the species, and I immediately as- 

 cended the tree to ascertain the cause of 

 his demonstration. Finding only one 

 egg I left it and awaited developments 

 or rather undevelopedmcnts, returning a 

 week later with my climbing friend; 

 he found three eggs, and at my sugges- 

 tion began to pack them in another box 

 similar to the one previously used. 



These boxes open at both ends, but my 

 friend forgot this fact in his eagerness 

 to lower our first set of Cooper's for 

 the season, and having packed twoegg& 

 he was pressing the cotton down more 

 firmly, when the bottom fell from the 

 box, and to my horror the egg nearest 

 the bottom came down through the air 

 with incalculable rapidity. I instinc- 

 tively leaped backward to escape be- 

 ing spattered with the contents of the 

 egg and uttered a cry of anguish at the 

 seemingly inevitable disaster, but the 

 egg struck a deep bed of dead leaves, 

 rebounded into the air and then sank 

 unharmed upon the soft cushion where 

 it had fallen. If William Henry de- 

 sires it, I will, forward an affidavit to 

 support the foregoing story. 



I now congratulate myself that I de- 

 ferred the formation of a collection of 

 eggs until last season, or until I reached 

 the mature years of my present age. I 

 can still have the pleasure of tinding^ 

 all th.e common species and to me 

 everylhing is still a prize, for as a col- 

 lector I am only an unlearned beginner. 

 To many of those whom I am boring by 

 this production, most of the species ^ 

 catalogued by the A. O. U. have ceased 

 to be rareties, and nothing short of a 

 large series of the eggs of the Golden- 

 toed Haskaree, A. O. U. No. 1001 or re- 

 lated species can satisfy the unresting 

 soul. Our ornithological and oological 

 journals receive with disdain the arti- 

 cles of us amateurs on common everyday 

 birds, and yearn for communications 

 upon some hitherto unknown sub-sub- 

 species hovering on some non-come-at- 

 ibus crags of the uninhabited waste. I, 

 however, shall spend some of my time 

 during the ensuing season in searching 

 for a nest of the Chipping Spai'row, 

 which I have not found in the last ten 

 years of my rambles about this neigh- 

 borhood, though formerly they were to 

 be found in every piece of low, young^ 

 hedge. Thus I feel that I am fortunate 

 in having the best of my oological life 



