THE OOLOGIST 



45 



cheery, open-hearted and fearless; 

 cool, collected, careful and conscien- 

 tious — Oology can justly point to his 

 record with a finger of pride and the 

 only consolation to us who remain is 

 that we may ever follow his example 

 and place honor first, and self last. 

 Richard C. Harlow. 



William B. Crispin Collection. 



After disposing of nearly all the 

 eggs that belonged to the late William 

 B. Crispin, a description of some of 

 the most prominent sets will no doubt 

 be of interest to those who never saw 

 them. I will only mention those col- 

 lected by him personally. 



Nest and sixteen eggs of Wood Duck 

 found while in the woods hunting 

 Great Blue Herons. The eggs were 

 far advanced in incubation, making it 

 necessary to bore auger holes about 

 % inch in size in order to save them. 

 The nest, eggs and portion of the tree 

 that contained them are now at the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila- 

 delphia, a permanent and safe rest- 

 ing place for such a valuable set. 



Crispin had a very large series of 

 3-4-5-6-eggs of the Great Blue Heron, 

 also Black-crowned Night Heron of 

 3-4-5 that were collected in the state 

 cf New Jersey. 



A set of five eggs found on May 26, 

 1912, of the Bartramian Sandpiper 

 near his home, pleased him more than 

 any other single set. The eggs are 

 very handsome and containing the un- 

 usual number of five eggs, makes it 

 rare and desirable. His series of Red- 

 shouldered Hawks of 3-4-5 eggs all 

 taken in New Jersey, were also very 

 fine and handsome. 



He had a large series of Bald Eagle 

 consisting of 1-3 8-2 4-1. These eggs 

 were found in Virginia, Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jer- 

 sey. As these eggs were described 

 before in this magazine I will only 



say that some of them were blown 

 with very small holes. There was a 

 rivalry between Crispin and I as to 

 who could blow an Eagle egg with the 

 smallest hole. He spent two hours 

 on one set and was a little ahead of 

 me as my patience would not hold out 

 that long. 



In Ospreys Crispin had some of the 

 most handsome sets of three and four 

 eggs that any one could find. I have 

 no hesitation in saying that Crispin 

 collected in his time nearly a thousand 

 eggs of this species and he retained 

 about one hundred for himself. He no 

 doubt kept the best eggs for his own 

 cabinet consisting of 20-3 12-4. A set 

 of three has one runt egg, 1.82x1.52; 

 the only runt egg of the Osprey I know 

 of. Of all the eggs in the bird family 

 I think the Osprey offers the greatest 

 diversity of shape, colors, sizes of 

 any and gives the collector the best 

 opportunity to make a display of egg 

 beauty that is a constant joy and de- 

 light to admiring eyes. 



Crispin's sets of Barn, Barred, Long- 

 eared, Screech, and the Great Horned 

 Owls all found in New Jersey were 

 pleasing to look upon. They were all 

 blown with small holes, clean and 

 white as a new sheet and mostly in 

 large series. 



A set of seven Short-billed Marsh 

 Wrens found in the state and the only 

 one he ever collected, was considered 

 by Tiim a very rare find. One set that 

 he prized highly was N-6 Worm-eating 

 Warbler found in Pennsylvania in 1911 

 while out hunting with Sharpless ana 

 Jackson. 



Crispin's collection was small in 

 quantity but rich in quality. What 

 he had was accurate in identity and 

 genuine beyond question. It was 

 most unfortunate that he was taken 

 at a time when he was apparently at 

 the zenith of his career, having just 

 secured a permit for the state, a thing 



