76 



tHE dOLOQlSt 



auction and dissipated to the four 

 winds at a profit of more than $10,000 

 to the book dealer. In a few years 

 no one will ever know that John Lewis 

 Childs was a great lover of Natural 

 History, and the owner of one of the 

 finest Natural History Libraries in 

 America. 



This sale attracted a great many 

 buyers from all over the country, and 

 competition was very keen for many 

 items. The bidder at that sale who 

 expected to get anything had to travel 

 in very fast company. All of the 

 leading book houses in New York and 

 vicinity had representatives there 

 looking for bargains, and some of the 

 great Museums also had people there 

 to bid on special items. Many very 

 wealthy book lovers had representa- 

 tives at this sale to bid for them. Our 

 experience at the Dr. Braislin sale will 

 be referred to in a later issue. 



R. M. Barnes. 



THE CARNAGE 



On March 13, 1922, after an unsuc- 

 cessful owl nest hunt near Pennsy- 

 grove, N. J., while Turner McMullen 

 and I were tramping back to town to 

 get the boat for Philadelphia, we were 

 shocked and saddened at the sight 

 of 26 murdered hawks and owls nailed 

 upon the sides of a barn by a farm 

 house near the roadside. We asked 

 permission of the farmer, who was 

 working in the yard, to examine the 

 birds. It was willingly given and he 

 accompanied us over to his gruesome 

 collection, of which he seemed fond. 

 There were 11 Long-eared Owls, 6 

 Barn Owls, 1 Great Horned Owl, 1 

 Screech Owl, 1 Short-eared Owl, 4 

 Red-shouldered Hawks, and 2 Coop- 

 er's Hawks in the collection, all nailed 

 to the barn through the heads; some 

 with the backs exposed and others 

 with the breasts. 



The farmer told us he had trapped 



the birds during the past month in 

 steel traps set in "Engine" (Indian) 

 grass in fields near his house, and 

 that the hawks came after his young 

 chicks. We didn't remonstrate with 

 the farmer for his cruelty in killing 

 the beneficial owls, as it would have 

 been a useless waste of words, as I 

 have learned from experience that 

 men of his ilk cannot see any good in 

 any kind of a hawk or owl, and it does 

 no good to argue with them. 



Richard F. Miller, Philadelphia, Pa 



FROM CANADA 



A letter, from the young man who 

 acted as guide for "Ye Editor" at the 

 time of his expedition to Quill Lake 

 in 1909, dated March 25th, says, among 

 other things as follows: "Quill Lake 

 is much the same as when we spent 

 the season there. The lake shore for 

 a few miles from the lake has not been 

 settled. I believe there is still a lot of 

 birds malting their home there, though 

 the ducks are not as plentiful as they 

 were ten years ago, but there should 

 not be any change in the small bird 

 life. I am told the swans are there 

 late in the fall, just as they used to 

 be, but have not heard of any white 

 (Whooping Cranes) being seen. 



Would like to see you come up here 

 and we would put in a good holiday 

 hunting eggs in this locality. I have 

 a good Ford and a nice little tent and 

 we could easily Visit Quill Lake or 

 any other place where we would be 

 likely to find specimens you wish to 

 possess. I have a good boat and there 

 are streams and very large sloughs 

 with plenty of rushes and plant life in 

 them here, so we could hunt on both 

 land and water. 



This country is dotted with "bluffs" 

 (little patches of isolated aspen trees) 

 and is a great place for ducks, on ac- 

 count of the sloughs. Geese also nest 

 on what is known as "Horseshoe 



