by THE NIDOLOGIST 
I had made up sets from single eggs, there is no 
excuse for Mr. Shufeldt stating ‘‘ I mixed those 
eggs together to look pretty and sell well, and 
then made them into ‘‘sets’”’ and sold them for 
either Grebe’s eggs or for Cormorants’ eggs as the 
demand required.” Mr. Shufeldt says it had 
been previously shown in THE NIDOLOGIST that I 
had done this, but this is a falsehood pure and 
simple, as nothing of the kind was ever alleged 
against me by Mr. Taylor. It would be advisable 
that when Mr. Shufeldt again makes a slanderous 
attack on any one he will get some proof together 
before he launches out on such contemptible work 
as slandering any individual. He has made a 
mountain out of a mole-hill, and he ought to feel 
ashamed of himself now that he finds there is not 
a particle of truth in this charge he made against 
me. 
Now as to the charge “‘ that I buy Crane’s eggs 
from some Kuropean dealer and sell them as 
Little Brown Crane’s eggs from N. W. Canada, ” 
this charge is as false as the preceding one. 
Mr. Shufeldt bases his charge on mere suspicion. 
He says my eggs are too small for Little Brown 
Crane’s eggs, but I will prove that Oliver Spanner 
& Co., of Toronto, have lately received a set of 
Little Brown Crane’s eggs that are smaller than 
my sets which Mr. Shufeldt condemns on account 
of their small size. 
Three weeks ago Oliver Spanner & Co., 
sent a set of Little Brown Crane’s eggs to the 
Smithsonion Institute. This set only measures 
3.20 by 2.15 and 3 34 by 2.10 and was taken last 
May in Alberta by Mr. Cannon. This set was 
returned to Spanner & Co, with a letter stating 
. the eggs were too small for the eggs of Little 
Brown Crane’s, and that they were doubtless the 
same kind of eggs Raine was selling (Grvus virgo) 
from Northwest Canada. What a slander this is 
to be sure. Both Mr. Spanner and Mr. Flem- 
ming ace prepared to swear to an affidavit that 
this set came from Alberta and as they gave me 
the address of the farmer who collected the eggs, 
I wrote to him and a few days ago I got his reply, 
and Mr. Cannon says the Little Brown Crane has 
nested for several years near his farm and that 
next spring he will secure the bird with the eggs 
So the Smithsonian parties slander Oliver 
Spanner & Co when they say this set did not 
come from N. W. C. and both Mr. Spanner and 
Mr. Flemming are going to take action against a 
certain party in Washington for this slander. 
Perhaps you will publish Mr. Rippon’s letter 
which he allowed me to copy. 
From Mr. Rippon’s letter your readers will see 
that Mr. Shufeldt speaks false when he says he 
is safe in saying this set never came from Crescent 
Lake, Assiniboia, but was doubtless bought by 
me from some European dealer. Mr. Rippon isa 
gentleman well-known aad respected in Toronto. 
It appears Mr. Shufeldt wrote to a dealer in Ger- 
many in order to make his attack on me as strong 
as possible. Mr. Hermann Rolle of Germany 
should remember if he sold me any Cranes’ eggs. 
Surely he keeps an account of the eggs he sends 
out. I might say I only received one lot of eggs 
three years ago from Rolle and there was not a 
Crane’s egg in the consignment and the eggs were 
[* Raine has no right to speak injuriously here of Mr. 
Rolle’s business as he is only remotely connected with 
the matter.] 
such a poor lot, without data, that I will order no 
more from Mr. Rolle. * 
Mr. Shufeldt says my measurements of the 
Crane’s eggs don’t correspond with his measure- 
ments. The slight difference may be accounted 
for by my not having an accurate instrument for 
measuring, mine being a home-made measure. 
I may have measured the set of Mr. Rippon’s 
from Crescent Lake wrong, or it may be a 
printer’s error, but the measurement’s of the eggs 
does not amount to much; but the question is, did 
this set come from N. W. Canada or not ? 
Mr. Rippon is prepared to swear it did and this 
is all I want to vindicate me. 
I intend to get my collectors to swear to 
affidavits that they have sent me Little Brown 
Crane’s eggs from N. W. Canada, and the follow- 
ing gentleman can furnish proof that this bird 
breeds in this region: Messrs. Rippon, Spanner, 
Flemming, Dippie, Cannon, Bain, Graham and 
myself; no less than eight persons, and is it 
likely all are mistaken ? 
Oliver Davie says the Little Brown Crane 
breeds commonly in Manitoba. Mr. W. L. Kells, 
the well-known Canadian Ornithologist, says in 
THE NipoLocistT for October, 1893, ‘‘ The Little 
Brown Crane is common in varions parts of 
Manitoba,’’? Mr. Thompson says he is certain the 
Little Brown Crane nests in N. W. Canada, 
while Prof. Macoun informs me he caught half 
grown young ones some years ago at Fort Pelly. 
In Mr. Coues’ ‘‘Birds of the North-west’’ he says 
he saw the young of this bird in North Dakota. 
The Little Brown Crane most decidedly breeds 
sparingly in Manitoba and becomes more common ~ 
in Assiniboia, Alberta and northward to the 
Arctic Circle. Yours, etc., W. RAINE. 
FROM E. P. RIPPON 
TORONTO, CAN., OCT. 7, 1896. 
Mr. Tayvyor, S77-—Some friend has kindly 
sent me a copy of THE Nipo.LocisT for August, 
with an article in it marked ‘‘ Raineism, ” 
which contains some grave charges, made by a Mr. 
R. Shufeldt,against Mr. W. Raine, the well known 
Oologist. In it Mr. Shufeldt charges Mr. Raine 
with having purchased some Crane’s eggs, from 
European dealers and selling them in this country 
as Little Brown Crane’s eggs. Now sir, in 1890, I 
engaged a collector to collect for mein Assiniboia, 
N. W. T. I received from him a large number of 
eggs, some rare and others very common. Among 
the lot I received sets of Little Brown Crane, 
which I showed to Mr. Raine. Mr. Raine imme- 
diately purchased two sets from me, at nearly list 
price, and a large number of other eggs also from 
the same locality. The two sets I sold Mr. Raine 
were collected at Crescent Lake, Assiniboia, 
N. W. T., where the Little Brown Crane breeds. 
The data for the set of Little Brown Cranes 
from Crescent Lake, Assiniboia, which you repro- 
duced an engraving of, I at once recognize as being 
in my own handwriting, so that Mr. Shufeldt is 
terribly mistaken, when he says the ‘‘data is in 
Raine’s writing.” I have not the slightest doubt 
but that the data belongs to one of the sets Mr. 
Raine bought from me in 1890, and which I re- 
ceived from Assiniboia as stated on the data. If 
you will send the set with data, I am prepared 
to swear that the set came from the locality 
stated; and if this is not sufficient, I will give the 
