THE OOLOGIST Js<^Oi) 



79 



end for one and one half inches in 

 length to a diameter of one inch; pro- 

 cure from some hardware store a sup- 

 ply of coil spring" wire the size of or- 

 dinary cotton wrapping twine and cut 

 from this two pieces, eight inches 

 long and two pieces ten inches long. 

 Secure some pieces of hard rubber, 

 take an old saw and cut two pieces 

 from same, i/4xV2xl% inches in di- 

 mentions. An old rubber ball will do 

 for the rubber. Take an awl or nail 

 and punch four holes in each strip 

 equal distance apart. Next slip ends 

 of your four wires through these holes 

 in rubber strips, shoving the strips 

 about one-fourth way on wires; then 

 take the eight ends of wire and fasten 

 at equal intervals around the reduced 

 base of handle. This is the most diffi- 

 cult part of the work, but cutting slits 

 to fit each wire and winding one end 

 at a time in position with common 

 black wire, the same size or smaller 

 than your spring wire, you can make 

 it very solid. The rubber strips are to 

 control the stiffness of the wires, and 

 to act as a bumper for the egg after 

 it is swallowed. The hole bored in 

 base is for attaching same to sticks 

 which the collector can secure in the 

 field. 



You will be greatly surprised at the 

 ease with which you can secure eggs 

 from nests on too small a limb to 

 climb to, and in caves, holes in trees, 

 on cliffs, etc. I have found it useful 

 on nests of Turkey Vulture, Pacific 

 Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Golden Eagle, 

 Duck Hawk, etc., and with one of 

 them in my basket I can, in many 

 cases, save myself the labor of car- 

 rying one hundred and fifty feet of 

 rope through brush and over moun- 

 tains. 



To make smaller sizes, proceed as 

 follows: 



Procure very fine wire, a mandolin 



or guitar wire string will do, some 

 corks of various sizes, and proceed 

 as described before only increasing 

 the number of wires slightly and dis- 

 pensing with the rubber strips. If 

 the egg will slip out sideways, after 

 being swallowed, sew pieces of cloth 

 over two outside loops. To put handle 

 on base, secure telephone wire, punch 

 hole in cork lengthwise, shove wire 

 through same, bend hook on end of 

 wire, and drive down into cork. Thus 

 you have a handle you can bend into 

 any shape and can attach to pole easi- 

 ly. To fasten small wires to cork, 

 simply take small awl and punch hole 

 where you want wires and insert wires 

 in same. 



You can construct them to pick up 

 Hummingbird eggs if you have fine 

 enough wire. With an assortment of 

 these egg grabbers, you can do away 

 with your hand ax, spoons and such 

 contrivances. It is the best yet. Just 

 try it. 



A few don'ts. Don't try to put too 

 many wires in one grabber. 



Don't try to make them of any kind 

 of wire, but coil spring wire, or wire 

 that will not bend but spring back in- 

 to its original position always. 



The enclosed photo will show how 

 to construct one better than words. 

 J. B. Dixon. 



On February 25, 1911 I took a set 

 cf three eggs of the Great Horned Owl 

 making my earliest record, and the 

 second set of three eggs in twenty- 

 seven years. Last year this pair 

 hatched three young; I located the 

 nest on March 12th and young were 

 but a few days old. The nest contain- 

 ed the hind half of six full grown 

 weed rats laid all in a row with tails 

 hanging toward the bottom of the 

 nest. No parent bird was seen, but 

 heard one low hoot as I was inspect- 

 ing the nest. The nest this year was 



