THE OOLOGIST 



207 



A Cat-Man. 



The fellow who signs as Win, C. 

 Herman, M. D., in the December num- 

 ber of Nature and Culture, relieves 

 himself to the extent of a page upon 

 the subject cf collecting birds eggs, 

 and especially in an attack upon THE 

 OOLOGIST. 



Who this unknown, unheard of 

 featherless biped may be we haven't 

 the least idea on earth. We never 

 heard of him, and we doubt if any of 

 our readers know of his existence. 

 His article properly follows one relat- 

 ing to The Cat, and in which the cat 

 is lauded and the declaration made 

 that it never does disturb the birds. 



Included within this growl is a snarl 

 aimed at our friend, Frank M. Chap- 

 man and the National Audubon Socie- 

 ties, so we are not without good com- 

 pany in the condemnation of this little 

 - would-be regulator of the Universe. 



Were it not for the statement that 

 "the sole mission" (of the Oologist) 

 "is to encourage the plundering of 

 birds nests to secure e^as to be sold 

 to pseudo scientific collectors," we 

 would pay no attention whatever to 

 this little squeak. 



That statement is untrue, and the 

 man that made it is a liar. Since tak- 

 ing hold of THE OOLOGIST, we have 

 refused and declined to publish any 

 advertisements for the sale of Ameri- 

 can birds eggs, and have endeavored 

 to do all that we could to encourage 

 legitimate scientific collecting. The 

 Editor of THE OOLOGIST never sold 

 a bird's egg in his life and never will. 



An investigation into Win. C. Her- 

 man, M. D.'s past might disclose some 

 very readable matter. The writer has 

 done and is probably now doing more 

 towards the legitimate protection of 

 our feathered friends every day in the 

 year than has this unknown during his 

 entire life. 



Who and what and where this lover 

 of cats is, is unknown and uninterest- 

 ing to us. — Editor. 



House Wrens. 

 One spring a House Wren appeared 

 at our place and saluted us with a 

 song, he kept singing most of his time 

 as all House Wrens do, after he had 

 been with us a week or ten days in- 

 specting every nook about the place 

 he began to build a nest in an old 

 teapot I had put upon an out building, 

 he worked and sang all day long, until 

 he had the nest completed, at least 

 he had worked diligently for a week 

 or more, then he took a slight rest, 

 and seemed to be waiting for his mate 

 to appear, but whether she was an up- 

 to-date female and ran away with 

 some one else or whether she met her 

 death on the journey north, I can't 

 say, but she never came, but bless you 

 did Mr. Wren waste any tears, not he, 

 he sang and hunted insects day in and 

 day out, occasionally going to the nest 

 and going in, always busy the whole 

 summer long and in the autumn he de- 

 parted as if nothing had happened. 

 George W. H. Vos Burgh, 

 Zion City, Illinois. 



Egg Exchange. 



During 1911 the Editor made ex- 

 changes of Eggs or Skins with twenty- 

 nine collectors, an average of about 

 one exchange every ten days. Our 

 exchange list began in January with 

 approximately 1200 specimens. This, 

 by January 1, 1912 is reduced to less 

 than 50 eggs in 15 sets. This surely 

 demonstrates that THE OOLOGIST is 

 the best egg advertising medium in 

 America. 



This large volume of exchanges 

 were carried on without misunder- 

 standing and with mutual satisfaction 

 on both sides, proving that this can 



