172 



THE OOLOGIST. 



An Autcmatic Blo-wer— Interesting 

 Oological Items. 



I have used a Y>\au of blowing eggs 

 willi complete .sueeess for several .years, 

 and as I have not seen anything like it 

 deserilx'd, I will give a description of 

 it for the l;enetit of those who still use 

 the old method, viz.: BloAving the air 

 tln-ough the niontli. It is simply this: 

 (let a small rul)ber bulb, such as are 

 used on small syringes, etc., and insert 

 the blowpipe in this and it is ready for 

 use. All you have to do is to c(mipress 

 the l)idb and the air is foi'ced through 

 the blowpipe. The bull) I use is one 

 I got fronk a Goodyear improved atom- 

 izer No. 6. It has an air A^alve in one 

 end. This is an advantage in one re- 

 s])ect as it does not suck anj^thing up 

 through the blow pipe. But for rinsing 

 eggs it does not come so handj", as it 

 will not suck up water unless the air 

 vah'e is stop])ed. This is easily done 

 by placing your finger over the air hole. 

 A ridjber ball will do but is not st) good 

 as an oval bulb, as compressing the 

 ball Avill move the blow pipe upwards 

 while in the other the pipe remains sta- 

 tionary. I think I can blow eggs in 

 one-fourth the time I could by the old 

 ■way and I very seldom break one. 

 This makes blowing eggs a pleasure 

 where it was to me, before I got on to 

 this scheme, one of the dreaded jobs of 

 collecting. To come h(mie from a col- 

 lecting trip Aviih say 30 or 40 eggs and 

 to jia^'e to twist your neck out of shape 

 to IjIow Avhat little wind there is left in 

 you after a hartl day's tramp through a 

 small blow ])ipe and probably have the 

 contents of a "cJiecked" egg sipiirt in 

 your face, or by mistake suck it up in 

 your mouth, is, to say tlie least, any- 

 thing but pleasant work for me, aiul by 

 using the above plan it is entirely un- 

 necessaiy. 



The best way I have found to dry 

 eggs, is to hold them hole down near 

 a lighted lamp. This will imnwd- 



iately force all remaining moisture out 

 of the hole and will not injure the egg 

 in tfte least. I think it a good plan to 

 rinse all eggs, frest or otherwise. 



I found a small net, made b\y InMiding 

 a piece of wire in a circle aboul six 

 inches across and fastening cloth to 

 to tills so it Avcniid form a bag, fasten 

 this to a pole about 10 feet long, a great 

 con\'eni(^nce in getting a set of Hawk's 

 egps that were on a leaning lind). 



I liaA'e taken tM'cihe sets of Red-tailed 

 HaAvk's eggs this spring. I find that 

 the complete si'ts iuA'aiiably ha\'e 8 

 eggs in this locality. I never found 

 but one complete set that had less than 

 3 and never found one that had more 

 than 3. 



I lio])e some one will try my method 

 of blowing eggs and repcn't what suc- 

 cess he has. G. H. LocKW^oou. 



Flight of Bucks. 



I ha\e held m,y watch on several 

 kinds of Ducks and Geese. But the 

 main ])art comes from old gunners Avho 

 have favored me with their experience. 

 Tlie Canvass Back can distance the 

 Avhole Duck family. When tjiis duck 

 takes it easy it makes 80 miles an hour. 

 But if it has some business somewhere, 

 it leaves back of it 2 miles a minute, and 

 does it easily. If .you don't believe it 

 just iire at tlie leader of a. string of 

 CaJivass Backs that are out o}i Inisiness. 

 Duck shot travels pretty fast, but if 

 you happen to hit one you see if it isn't 

 the fifth or sixth one l)ack of the drake 

 or leader. A drake tloes not ahvays 

 lead, but it g(>nerally does if there is 

 one in the liock. If there is more they 

 will seldom lead. If you A\ish to l)ring 

 down the leader yoo must aim at a 

 si)aee a!)out 8 feet abend of liim, and 

 then if lie falls j'ou Avill line a long dis- 

 tance oft. The Mallard is a sIoav one. 

 It is all- he can do to mak(^ a mile a, 

 minute, but he can if lie Avants to. His 

 regular rate is about 40 miles an hour. 



