154 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



Some Big Egg Collections. 



Qrri'K unexijectt'dly the editor took a 

 run to Philadelphia the last cf June 

 and enjoyed the rare pleasure of a 

 sii,fht of some of the big egg collec- 

 tions of that city and its environs. Of course 

 we looked up " J. P. N.," and also J. Parker 

 Norris, Jr., who, by the way, is taking a more 

 active interest of late years in caring for and 

 enlarging the great collection than his father. 

 Mr. J. Parker Norris welcomed us very 

 genially in his law office, and after indulging in 

 a few interesting reminiscences (these Oulogists 

 always have them, you know) kindly took us to 

 see the collection at his residence, where we 

 found J. P. N., Jr., unpacking some Warblers' 



^gg^- .... 



How impossible it is after inspecting exten- 

 sive egg collections (of course hastily) to de- 

 scribe or compare all or any. We felt this to 

 be more than ever true, when, on the following 

 day, we had had the pleasure of looking over the 

 three well-known collections at West Chester— 

 those of Thomas H. Jackson, Josiah Hooj)es, 

 and Samuel B. Ladd. We will merely attempt 

 to mention what caught the fancy of the 

 present writer, other rarities equally or more 

 worthy of mention being doubtless overlooked. 



The Norris collection of North American 

 birds' eggs is said to be the largest private col- 

 lection in the United States. It is a magnifi- 

 cent array of treasures of the 0<"'logist, there 

 being in all about twenty-two thousand speci- 

 mens, all in "sets." Its accumulation repre- 

 sents the work of many years, and an actual 

 cash outlay of some ten thousand dollars, besides 

 the great care and discrimination necessary to 

 secure authentic specimens in so large a collec- 

 tion. With such an immense number of eggs 

 Mr. Norris and his son have not striven to 

 secure a large number of kinds, having, we 

 believe, less than six hundred species and 

 races represented. The aim has been to secure 

 full series, jjarticularly of the Warblers and 

 Raptores. Deeming it impossible to get a fair 

 representation, the water birds have been prac- 

 tically neglected, although some rare Petrels 

 and others enrich the collection. There is 

 great display of variation in the series of 

 Warblers' eggs. One drawer contains a pro- 

 digious series of sets of the Kentucky Warbler, 

 taken almost entirely by J. Parker Norris, Jr., 

 and a younger brother. There are of these, in 

 all, one hundred and seventy-eight sets, about 

 four hundred eggs, Mr. Norris' take for one 

 season was fiftyrfive sets. He has a very 

 favorable collecting ground for these Warblers 

 near his home. He does not, as a rule, take 

 the second sets, and he says he notices no 



diminution in the number of birds each year. 

 The Rajjtores' eggs in the collection are of 

 course a superb lot. .\ set of Duck Hawk's, 

 taken on Mt. Tom this year, showed very rich 

 coloration. Of the rarer Kites, there are four 

 sets, White-tailed, a number of the Swallow- 

 tailed, and one undou!)ted rarity — a set of 

 Everglade Kite. 



The famous big series of sets of the Red- 

 shouldered Hawk, taken by " J. M. W." (C. L. 

 Rawson) were admired, also a fine display of 

 some fourteen eggs of the Golden Eagle. The 

 majority of these sets were taken by the writer, 

 and although some years had elapsed since 

 they were collected, he could describe, without 

 any look at the data, the location of the nest in 

 each case. Memory of the particular set of 

 eggs did not so much aid here as memory of 

 the series of sets laid by the same bird, another 

 example of our old statement that individual 

 birds (proven at least in our experiments with 

 Golden P^agles) lay eggs similar, in general, in 

 size, shape, or coloration each year, so as to be 

 readily distinguishable from eggs laid by other 

 birds of the same species. J. Paiker Norris, Jr., 

 has found this rule to be true in a number of 

 instances with the Kentucky Warblers, and in- 

 forms us that Mr. C. L. Rawson confirmed the 

 fact while collecting Red-shouldered Hawks' 

 eggs from tlie same nests on succeeding years. 

 Other testimony confirmatory of this law has 

 been published in the " NiD." Of course the 

 universality of this rule would seem to imply 

 the breeding of the same pair of birds each year 

 (said to be the case with Eagles), but whether 

 the female bird would preserve the character- 

 istics of her eggs with another mate, we are not 

 competent to say. 



Mr. Norris has not arranged his sets on the 

 compartment plan, which he admits is the 

 much better way to get a fair idea of the varia- 

 tions, instead of being crowded together in 

 trays to economize space, which he feels, how- 

 ever, is necessary with so many eggs, unless he 

 should multiply the space many times. 



We said adieu to the owners of the Norris 

 collection and went on our way to ^\'est 

 Chester, which, though only a rather small 

 suburb of Philadelphia, has become noted as 

 the home of three large egg collections. 



Very few advanced ()<">logists have failed to 

 hear of Thomas H. Jackson, famed alike for 

 the neatness of his prej^aration of eggs and the 

 varieties he has collected and exchanged during 

 many years, for he is one of the " old-timers." 

 We had jjromised to visit Mr. Jackson and 

 hunted him up first thing. Naturally the egg 

 collection received a big share of attention 

 until a late hour. With Mr. Jackson's, as with 

 the other collections, our space and oppor- 



