THE OOLOGIST 
in wonderful array, from the common 
little English sparrow to the beauti- 
ful birds of the tropics. It is-also in- 
teresting to note the large display of 
eggs and their different sizes; color- 
ings and shapes. 
One of the most interesting sights 
in the museum, at least to the chil- 
dren, is a series of groups of birds 
jllustrating “Who Killed Cock Robin?” 
each set representing some scene of 
the tragedy so familiar to every boy 
and girl. 
A beautiful section of the museum 
is that devoted to butterflies of which 
there are hundreds of different varie- 
ties, no two alike. Mr. Hatch recently 
received a consignment of butterflies 
from Rochester, N. Y. valued at near- 
ly$150 and consisting of specimens 
from nearly every country of South 
America, Europe, Africa, Australia, 
India and Japan. These butterflies 
are worth from 50c to $7.50 each. 
The collection of curios includes 
minerals, fossils, shells and innumer- 
able articles of interest. Mr. Hatch 
has a fine collection of stamps, coins 
and relics of all kinds and complete 
sets of American, Canadian and Eng- 
lish coins from a very early date with 
most of the coins of other countries. 
A number of these coins were discov- 
ered in excavating on the sites of an- 
cient Roman cities and it is thought 
that they were coined near the begin- 
ning of the Christian era. 
Mr. Hatch also has a large quantity 
of United States and Confederate pap- 
er money. Two sheepskin parchments 
signed hy Thos. Jefferson and James 
Madison are among the rare docu- 
ments. 
Mr. Hatch, assisted by his wife, has 
been collecting curios for the past 
thirty years and has an extensive ac- 
quaintance not only among naturalists 
of the United States but other coun- 
tries as well. He is constantly ex- 
changing specimens and receiving new 
curiosities and rarities to add to his 
already large and complete _ collec- 
tion. He values the entire stock at 
between $4,000 and $5,000 and the 
value increases with age. It is an in- 
tellectual treat for anyone to visit Mr. 
Hatch’s Dime Museum and those who 
have never seen the exhibits will do 
well to avail themselves of an early 
opportunity of seeing the beauties and 
wonders of nature. 
- -—o TO? 
The Harvest. | 
This month’s OOLOGIST reaches 
our readers and those of whom are col- 
lectors are in the midst of the annual 
Spring harvest. 
The taking and preparation of bird 
skins, nests and eggs for the forma- 
tion of a permanent collection and for 
scientific studies is perfectly legiti- 
mate and justified. The destruction of 
either as the result of a mere tempor- 
ary fad is to be deprecated, and it is 
not wrong to take additional speci- 
mens within reasonable limits for the 
purpose of exchange; otherwise col- 
lectors and collections remote from the 
breeding place of the various species 
would be unable to add them to their 
cabinet. We trust that all our read- 
ers will use reason and discretion with 
respect to the gathering of  speci- 
mens and that after the close of the — 
season not only our advertising col- 
umns, but our reading columns as well 
will 1eflect a successful year in North 
American Oology. 
- ——————_0—~<e 
This Month’s Issue. 
We ovine that the oldest of our read- 
ers—and some of them have taken 
THE OOLOGIST since the first issue 
in 1884—have never seen a_ better 
Oologist than we send you this month. 
If each one of you will take a little 
interest in the journal and endeavor to 
send us at least one new subscriber 
you will thereby show us your appre- 
ciation for our extra effort. Can you 
net do so? 
Ot 
Bird Notes. 
Send us in some more of your ob- 
servations. At the rate we are print- 
ing them this month, the supply won’t 
last long. 
Oro 
May 6th, 1910, a wild wood duck’s 
nest was found in the overflowed 
Illinois river bottoms about fifteen 
feet above the water in the hollow end 
of a broken dead elm tree not over 
twelve inches in diameter. It contain- 
ed fourteen eggs, evidently partially 
incubated, and an unusual quantity of 
down for this species, 
