THE OOLOGIST 



15 



unexcelled, and the other specimens 

 cover a wide range. The place is 

 equipped with every known modern 

 device used in the most expensive 

 museums and herein we observed 

 some life groups after the manner of 

 those in the New York Museum of 

 Natural History, these being prepared 

 by Mr. Howes, and are fully as good 

 as those in New York. One of them 

 when lit up by electricity, is as fine 

 a thing of the kind as we have ever 

 seen. 



It is our prediction that twenty 

 years from now, if Mr. Howes is per- 

 mitted to remain that long, he will 

 be one of the best known naturalists 

 in North America. 



From New Haven, our route led us 

 to New York City, via Bridgeport, 

 Conn, where we spent a very interest- 

 ing evening, W. Linfred Dubar, John 

 Garth and Oto C. Hestings all Oologist 

 gist subscribers. While in New York 

 we visited the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, meeting, among others, Frank M. 

 Chapman, who appeared unable or too 

 busy to give us much of his time. 

 This Museum of course, has unlimited 

 means behind it, and is one of the 

 great and growing institutions in 

 America. Its collection of birds is 

 exceptionally good. The collection 

 of eggs is only medium. It is particu- 

 larly known however for the life 

 groups of North American birds pre- 

 pred under the direction of Frank M. 

 Chapman, to which there is devoted 

 an entire room, and this display is well 

 worth the time of any person, scien- 

 tist or otherwise, visiting New York 



We likewise visited the Zoological 

 Gardens at the Bronx, and here' saw 

 in life many birds that we had never 

 seen before. Birds from all parts of 

 the world, including the rare Secre- 

 tary Bird of India, which is simply a 

 long legged terrestrial hawk that runs 

 down its prey instead of swooping 

 upon it on the wing. 



Here we were treated with extreme 

 courtesy by Professor Hornaday and 

 his assistant, L. S. Crandall, assistant 

 curator of Ornithology, the Superin- 

 tendent of the department of Birds. 

 At this writing we have just received 

 from this Institution a pair of Serop- 

 sis geese, an Australian species which 

 is about half way between a true 

 goose and the family of wader, in ex- 

 change for a pair of Blue Geese Semt ' 

 by us. 



Driving over onto Long Island we 

 called at the home of Chauncey W. 

 Crandall, but he was not there and 

 we did not get to see his specimens. 

 Later Mr. Crandall called on us at 

 the hotel. We found a dark-eyed, 

 thin, nervous, active man, who has 

 recently come to realize that he has 

 practically worn himself out in the 

 employ of one of the great New York 

 corporations, having undergone a 

 nervous breakdown. Crandall ad- 

 vised us that as soon as he recovers 

 his normal state of health, that he is 

 going to get back into the birds egg 

 game with more energy than ever. 



We also called at the home of John 

 Lewis Childs at Floral Park, New 

 York. He has a magnificient estate 

 here and treated us royally, though 

 at that time he was a lone "widdy 

 man," his wife and family being in 

 Europe. Childs' collection of birds 

 and eggs is one of the best in exist- 

 ence, and he showed it to us with ev- 

 ident pride, and at much loss of time 

 and physical exertion for himself; all 

 of which we appreciated. 



Many were the rare specimens we 

 observed there, including a series of 

 Yellow Rail and Black Rail; also eggs 

 of the Carolina Paraquet and many 

 others of equal rarity. Mr. Childs' 

 private ornithological library is one 

 of the best known. One of the boks 

 of which he is exceptionally proud, 

 and with reason, is a compilation of 



