THE OOLOGIST 



89 



tence. But the animals, without grass, 

 trees, grains or roots, would be starv- 

 ed to death. Then man would gnaw 

 hungrily at old chunks of rotten wood, 

 and at last would come the indescrib- 

 able horrors of cannibalism, when 

 man would kill and eat raw his weak- 

 er companions, and these gone, he 

 would die, and leave the world to the 

 dirt-eating worms. 



Woman, the gentlest of the human 

 race, is one of the greatest enemies 

 of birds, because they persist in wear- 

 ing brilliant plumes and mounted birds 

 on their hats. Listen: 



On the topmost branches of a great 

 tree in a southern marsh, sits a proud, 

 beautiful White Heron. A plume hunt- 

 ing party, consisting of several cruel, 

 heartless apologies for men, is passing 

 and, I attracted by the g;reat white 

 plumes, that grow only in the mating 

 season, they shoot, and the poor bird 

 comes crashing to the ground. The 

 rare, beautiful plumes are plucked 

 from the bird, and the lifeless body 

 left, cold and stiff, on the ground. 



Deeper in the forest is the nest of 

 the slaughtered bird, and the three or 

 four young herons, weak and helpless, 

 lay there for days without food, or 

 the protection of the warm body of 

 the mother bird when the cold night 

 winds sweep through the forests, chill- 

 ing their naked little bodies to the 

 marrow. At every sound their hungry 

 mouths open wide, only to close again 

 in despair. They are deserted by the 

 world, and soon their little bodies 

 shall lie, withered and lifeless, in or- 

 der that the heartless desires of some 

 rich woman shall be satisfied. 



Friends, listen: Only a few years 

 ago the White Heron was a very com- 

 mon bird in the south; today, it is on 

 the verge of extinction. And it is not 

 the only one, for thousands of song 

 birds are killed daily by these unscru- 

 pulous, law-breaking plume hunters. 



Compared to them, the night-riders 

 of Kentucky were gentlemen, for they 

 sought to destroy only the tobacco 

 crop, while the fiendish bird-slayers 

 destroy at the same time all the crops 

 of the world, and cause drought, fam- 

 ine and pestilence. 



Friends and fellow bird lovers, can 

 nothing be done to enforce the laws 

 of the land, that this cruel and wanton 

 slaughtering may be stopped, and the 

 terrible menacing spectre of famine 

 downed? 



A Double Egg. 



A Streator paper relates that a 

 man residing there has a buff cochin 

 hen that recently laid an egg of mam- 

 moth size weighing four and a half 

 ounces. The egg when placed in an 

 ordinarj' water glass extends about 

 three-eights of an inch above the rim 

 of the glass. The circumference 

 around the center is 6% inches and 

 the diameter is slightly more than 

 two inches. It was found upon break- 

 ing the egg that it contained in addi- 

 tion to a yolk and a white a second 

 perfectly formed egg of ordinary size. 

 The second egg had a hard shell and 

 contained a perfect yolk and white. If 

 this be true, as far as known this is 

 the second egg of this kind ever found. 

 R. M. Barnes, of this city, has a simi- 

 lar one which was found by an old 

 German iady in Steuben township sev- 

 eral years ago, and accidentally dis- 

 covered by him before being destroy- 

 ed. — Lacon Democrat. 



Since the above was printed we have 

 received another of the same kind. It 

 was taken on the farm of County Sur- 

 veyor Tui'ner of Putnam County, 111., 

 and given to us. 



If our readers know of any other 

 double shelled eggs in existence, 

 please notify us. — Editor. 



