16 



THE OOLOGIST 



his own, relating to the birds of Floral 

 Park, every breeding species of which 

 is represented by a hand-colored 

 drawings by Allen Brooks, the text be- 

 ing by Mr. Childs. 



There is no private collection of 

 North American birds eggs that is 

 more complete or more generally 

 known than tnat of Mr. Childs, and 

 he is as enthusiastic in regard to this 

 hobby apparently as a sixteen year 

 old boy, and we have no doubt it has 

 been beneficial to him both mentally 

 and physically. 



Our next stop was at Philadelphia. 

 Here in the heart of the ornithological 

 territory, formerly famed by Alex- 

 ander Wilson and John James Audu- 

 bon, we met many ornithologists, and 

 had the pleasure of discussing ama- 

 teur bird publications with Frank L. 

 Burns, and renewing acquaintance 

 with J. Parker Norris, Senior whom 

 we had not seen for many years. 

 Also of meeting his son, J. Parker 

 Norris, Junior, who is an enthusiastic 

 oologist, and took us to his home and 

 permitted us to examine the famous 

 J. P. N. collection. 



This is without doubt the largest 

 private collection of North American 

 birds eggs in existence in point of 

 numbers, and contains series after 

 series of rare and almost unobtain- 

 able eggs. The collection itself show- 

 ed something of neglect, and it is to 

 be hoped that it will not be permitted 

 to deteriorate from its former high 

 state of care. No other collection in 

 North America is better known. It 

 is a life work of an ardent bird lover, 

 and is being splendidly continued by 

 his son. It is a monument of which 

 they both can well be proud. We of 

 course hunted up S. N. Rhoads, the 

 book man and spent a pleasant even- 

 ing with Messrs. Butler, Longstreet 

 and Akin. 



From Philadelphia, a twenty mile 



drive over roads that were so bad as 

 to surprise us brought us to the home 

 of Thomas H. Jackson. Every reader 

 of this knows Jackson by reputation 

 at least. Jackson began to collect 

 eggs, and exchange them way back in 

 the early '8'0's and Jackson is at it 

 yet. A short, spare, dark complexion- 

 ed man with an iron gray mustache, 

 closely cropped, took us out to his 

 home and displayed to us his treas- 

 ures. His wife apparently takes as 

 much interest in his hobby as he does 

 himself, and his collection, while not 

 large in point of numbers, is one of 

 the most complete so far as varieties 

 are concerned, that there is. The 

 care, preparation and arrangement, 

 neatness and appearance of this col- 

 lection is not excelled by any that 

 we have ever seen. 



One of the odd things about it is 

 that the eggs of the larger birds rest 

 on beds of very fine hickory shavings 

 which Mr. Jackson gets from the fac- 

 tory with which he is connected. 



Driving back to Philadelphia we 

 started for Washington, and between 

 Philadelphia and Baltimore passed 

 over the most miserable roads thai 

 we have ever seen an automobile at- 

 tempt to negotiate; miles upon miles 

 of rocky hills, in many places with 

 the soil entirely washed off the road 

 bed, being simply a loose mass of 

 jagged, sharp edged irregular shaped 

 rocks. 



In Washington we spent an evening 

 with Paul Bartsch, a young enthusi- 

 astic, active, energetic oologist, who 

 has a splendid collection of personally 

 taken sets, and whose accuracy and 

 care in preparation cannot be ex- 

 celled. 



At the National Museum, we placed 

 ourselves in touch with J. H. Riley, 

 Secretary of the Department of Birds 

 eggs, and had the pleasure of examing 

 such of the specimens of the 155,000 





