wo 
that eggs of the Mallard are easy of identi- 
fication because of their ‘‘elegant green 
tint.’’ And yet I feel certain that very 
many sets of this species have been taken 
that show little or no tint of green—‘'‘ele- 
gant’’ or otherwise, and, indeed, no less a 
writer than Dr. Coues is content to dispose 
of them simply as ‘‘dingy, yellowish-drab.’’ 
The last named writer makes the flat 
assertion that eggs of the Baldpate are 
“dull, pale buff’ and I believe this, too, 
but I venture the assertion that there are 
to-day in many collections in this country 
absolutely authentic sets of these beautiful 
eggs that, if taken fresh, are as nearly 
white as Duck’s eggs ever get, with the 
pearly, translucent appearance that belongs 
to what we call white porcelain. | 
And so might instances be multiplied of 
authoritative book statements, regarded so 
widely as standard, that appear to seriously 
conflict, and undoubtedly cause much doubt 
and perplexity. 
That these half-truths told by the writers 
may possibly cause injustice will be illus- 
trated by a personal experience that may 
not be wholly uninteresting or uninstruct- 
ive. 
In a lifetime spent, principally in Wis- 
. consin, Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota 
I have, as a student of birds and an ardent 
sportsman, become pretty familiar with the 
Sandhill and Whooping Crane,and a goodly 
number of both have fallen tomy gun. The 
one, roughly described,isa great bird stand- 
ing, when erect, over three feet in height, 
and brownish-gray allover. The other is 
still greater, but with gleaming white body 
and black primaries. No man in his senses 
and in broad daylight at short range would 
by any possibility mistake the one for the 
other. I had never succeeded in taking a 
nest of either till this spring. On May 2, 
while at a lonely cattle ranch far from the 
haunts of man, a herd boy, some eighteen 
years of age, rode in and told me he had 
that morning,while wading his pony across 
a flooded meadow traversed by. a coulee, 
flushed a Sandhill Crane from her nest con- 
taining one egg, and that she had permitted 
approach within thirty feet before she sud- 
denly rose up and flopped away. I was 
afraid that his handling of the egg might 
have caused abandonment of the nest, but 
on the next morning just before noon, and 
under a brilliant sun, the lad and Itoiled 
away on foot to the locality of the nest, and 
divesting ourselves of trousers waded the 
THE NIDOLOGIST 145 
chilling waters with its tangle of rank grass 
and weeds toward the spot which he had 
roughly marked, when up rushed the great 
bird just out of gun range and flew to the 
hillside bordering the coulee, where she was 
speedily joined by her mate and they stalked 
back and forth nervously in full view ut- 
tering their peculiar cries and did not leave 
the vicinity until we waded out and toward 
them, practically driving them away. ‘The 
nest was a crude affair, not necessary to 
describe here, and contained the now com- 
pleted set of two eggs——perfectly fresh, of 
course, with hard, smooth shell, and the 
ground color of one might be described as 
yellowish-drab and that of the other as 
greenish-drab. No man, without shooting 
for identification, probably ever took a set 
of eggs of this species under more satis- 
factory circumstances as to authenticity, 
and it is to emphasize this feature that I 
have given the details at greater length 
than might otherwise be deemed necessary. 
But when I sent these eggs to one of 
the best known collectors in the United 
States the greenish ground of the one didn’t 
tally with other Sandhill sets in his collec- 
tion, but did with some examples of the 
Whooping Crane, and on consulting the 
great book authority he discovered there a 
statement to the effect that Sandhill’s show 
yellowish ground, Whooper’s greenish, and 
so my eggs, though not definitely rejected 
as yet, are under suspicion, and my corres- 
pondent, while considerately absolving me 
from any attempt at intentional imposi- 
tion, is still fearful that I have mistaken 
eggs of the Whooping for the Sandhill 
Crane. It is true the book gives the 
Sandhill a smooth shell and the Whooper 
‘“‘warty elevations’’ and mine didn’t have 
the latter but the ground color of the one 
was so inconsiderate as to show greenish, 
which the book doesn’t allow in theSandhill, 
and there you are! Now if my eggs should 
be suspected of being a ‘‘made up” set be- 
cause one is yellow and the other green I 
think I could bear the imputation with much 
more equanimity than I can to have a mis- 
taken identification proved on me by a 
simple reference to the half-truth told by 
this well-meaning book. 
Surely books covering so great a field can- 
not be infallible, but they could be more 
guarded and less arbitrary and positive on 
points so difficult of exact determination, and 
so be less misleading and of much greater 
value scientifically. 
