134 



THE OOLOGIST 



was about knee deep at the shortest 

 and up to ones waist in some places 

 and tangled up so that one had to lift 

 each foot high up to get over it and 

 could not see where he put it down, 

 three ocacsions I was near enough to 

 a rattle snake to have been struck be- 

 fore he gave his warning and after 

 one of them rattles within three feet 

 of a fellow in such a place it takes the 

 keen edge of nest hunting off for a 

 while. Moccasins, while as deadly as 

 the Rattler, are more sluggish and un- 

 less one actually steps on him he is 

 not likely to bite, however hunting 

 under such circumstances keeps ones 

 nerves wrought up to the highest pitch 

 all the time. 



The Sparrows were in full song, 

 such as it was, not being familiar 

 with the song of the Seaside Spar- 

 row I am unable to say if it is anything 

 like the Dusky or not. This sor g was 

 similar in many ways to the song of 

 the Grasshopper Sparrow and the in- 

 sect like part of the song is more pro- 

 longed and somewhat louder than in 

 the Grasshopper Sparrow. The song 

 of the Dusky cannot be called sweet in 

 any particular but its harshness 

 matches well with its surroundings. 

 All of the six nests that we found 

 were open at the top and none of them 

 were arched over. 



The photographs secured on the 

 trip were not much good as conditions 

 were not favorable for this kind of 

 work and when one is hunting nests 

 there is little time to be lugging a 

 camera around and taking pictures, 

 however, the ones shown will give an 

 idea of the nesting site of this bird, 

 etc. 



The first two sets mentioned above 

 with nests and skins of the parent 

 birds are in the Museum of J. E. Thay- 

 er of Lancaster, Mass. 



Oscar E. Baynard. 

 Clearwater, Florida. 



Collecting Birds Eggs. 



The Preparation of Specimens. 

 (By R. Magoon Barnes.) 

 III. 

 Having arrived home with a set of 

 5 Bluebirds, a set of 6 Phoebe, a set 

 of 7 Kingfisher and a set of 5 Meadow- 

 lark, the next thing is to prepare these 

 , specimens in such a way that they 

 will last and make a desirable appear- 

 ance when placed in the cabinet. 



The first thing to do is to lay aside 

 each set of eggs separately on a cloth 

 or layer of cotton batting, something 

 that will prevent them from rolling; 

 then procure a basin of water, a tum- 

 bler filled with water and the blow 

 pipes and drills we have before men- 

 tioned; sit down at a low table or on 

 a door step or some similar place, so 

 as to bring the basin above the ob- 

 ject you sit upon. 



We will commence now with the 

 preparation of the set of Blue Bird's 

 eggs. Picking up one of the speci- 

 mens, look it over carefully to see if 

 there are any stains or any foreign 

 matter on it which cannot be remov- 

 ed, and if there is, that is the side we 

 will blow it on. First pierce the shell 

 with a fine pointed pin or needle, then 

 select the smallest of the blow pipes, 

 which should be No. 0, carefully insert 

 the point of the drill in the hole left 

 by the needle, and holding the egg be- 

 tween the thumb and finger of the 

 left hand, with the larger end away 

 from you, and the second finger under 

 the smaller end of the egg slowly twirl 

 the drill back and forth with the 

 thumb and finger of the right hand, 

 gradually enlarging the oriface until 

 you have drilled clear into the egg. 

 If you have the right kind of a drill 

 tne rear end of the burr part of the 

 drill will cut the lining as it enters the 

 egg. If it does not do this, it will be 

 necessary to draw the drill back un- 

 til the rear of the burr comes in con- 



