.78 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



How I Obtained a Canada Goose 

 Egg from Central Park, N. Y. 



//(wi Soif Qui Mai Y Pcuse. 



WHIIvIC looking over my Oological 

 collection, perhaps for the third 

 time one Sunday morning, as that 

 was all I had to do to kill time — for accord- 

 ing to custom I had forgotten to go to 

 Church — I felt that my collection was sadly 

 lacking in some specimens and was chafing 

 under life in the great City of New York, 

 impatiently waiting for the last month ot 

 school to close and let me into the country 

 to explore pastures new. Suddenl}- my 

 reverie was interrupted bj' a ring at the 

 door, and presently the maid announced 

 the presence of Mr. B , my boon com- 

 panion of many a lucky and pleasant col- 

 lecting trip. 



" Well," said I, " I thought you were at 

 ly's playing 'freeze-out ' with the boys." 

 " Oh to — Coventry with ' freeze out ' every 

 day in the week, but — how would a set of 

 Canada Goose eggs strike you this morn- 

 ing ? ' ' was the bland reply. 



"First class, " said I, "but where are you 

 going to get them, in exchange?" "Better 

 than that — from first hand.s — right from the 

 old Goose," he said. "Caul come into 

 your game?" I asked. "Tell me all 

 about it." "Well," he said, "between 

 you and me and the lamp-post, I was just 

 up in Central Park for a stroll with the 

 'old man,' and you know that little cape 

 which runs down to the lake where we went 

 skating .so often ? Well, I .saw the old 

 Goose there sitting on her nest a few feet 

 from the water. I stood on the bridge and 

 watched her for half an hour, but she didn't 

 come off. The men in charge of the dom- 

 esticated birds on the lake had ])ul a lot of 

 straw around her nest. The weather is 

 fine, so what do you say if we go up to- 

 night after dark and get the eggs ? " 



So the plot was hatched, jjut the eggs 

 weren't. 



The plan of attack was this: Since we 



could not hire a boat after dark, to sneak 

 up on the bird from the cover ot the trees 

 and bushes and whack her over the neck 

 with a cane and sling her into the water 

 before she could raise a racket, and then 

 loot the nest. So we flipped up half a dol- 

 lar to determine who should be the perpe- 

 trator of the evil deed, for if detected we 

 had a pretty good chance of being the 

 cit5''s guest for a month or two. "Tails it 

 is, Mr. B., the lot falls on you." 



Accordingly at nine o'clock we donned 

 our hats and overcoats and stuffed the 

 pockets full of cotton wool to wrap the eggs 

 in, and each of us carried a cane. It was 

 about a mile to the park and another to the 

 nest. \'ery few people were about except 

 the Park police, who were awake, for they 

 had no benches to sleep on, as everyone was 

 occupied by a loving c<)uple. Presently we 

 came to the path where we could approach 

 the nest, so stepped off onto the grass and 

 crawled under a low spreading yew tree 

 and laid low. I decided to follow close be- 

 hind Mr. B. to offer my services in case the 

 Goose got too demonstrative and help carry 

 away the eggs. Everything was quiet save 

 the heavy footfall of a policeman on the 

 cement walk, and when that had died away 

 Mr. B. sallied forth on his hands and knees 

 toward the nest which was about thirty 

 3^ards distant, and I followed close behind, 

 both of us moving stealthily as the Gauls 

 that attemjjted the citadel of ancient Rome. 



Every few yards we stopped and listened 

 but heard no one coming. Once or twice in 

 the dark Mr. B. ran against some dead 

 vines, which caused a noise and made him 

 say d , otherwise the night was mild. 



Presently Mr. B. halted and whispered, 

 "We are pretty close to the nest now, "but 

 his voice was .shaky, as he thought of the 

 probable tussle with the Goose and the 

 chances of our being found out if we caused 

 any unusual noise. I told him not to be 

 afraid, but to whack the ".sacred bird of 

 Juno" over the neck with his cane when 

 he got within reach. Presently he said, "I 



