THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



39 



The Slip System. 



CLAKENCE M. WEED. 



Eveiy young oologist ought to be some- 

 thing more than a mere collector. If he 

 works only for the sake of getting a col- 

 lection, to show ordinary friends, much as 

 he would a collection of highly colored 

 beads, he had better give up at once. Only 

 when he strives to learn the habits of our 

 feathered beauties and to discover some- 

 thing new about them, does he deserve the 

 title of oologist. 



By the slip system is meant a method of 

 keeping notes and catalogues on slips of 

 paper, or card-board, about the size of a 

 postal card. This is the system adopted by 

 many of the gi-eatest scientists in the Uni- 

 ted States, and is a great help to any per- 

 son wishing to do real earnest work in al- 

 most every branch of science. 



For notes, ordinary unruled book paper, 

 cut the size of a postal card, is best. Enough 

 of these slips to last a year can be obtained 

 at any printing office for a few cents. On 

 these every observation in regard to the 

 nesting or other habits of each species, the 

 color and number of eggs in a nest, the 

 time of arrival and departure, and many 

 other points, should be noted. Each sub- 

 ject should be on a different slip, and the 

 slips should be arranged alphabetically with 

 regard to subjects. By this method a sur- 

 prising amount of information will be ac- 

 cumulated in a single season, in a form that 

 is readily accessible. The best slip-holder 

 for l)eginners is a piece of manilla or other 

 thick paper, cut twice the width of the §lip, 

 and then doubled. This is held by a rub- 

 ber band. It is a good plan to have a sep- 

 arate slip for the notes on each species. The 

 advantages of this system are its handiness 

 and ease of reference. As the slips can be 

 carried in the pocket, notes can be made on 

 the spot, which makes them much more 

 valuable, and, as new observations are 

 made, they can at once be slipped in their 

 f ■ proper place. 



For catalogues, each egg should have a 

 Islip bearing the same number and giving 



date, locality, and so forth. When^aii^egg 

 is lost or exchanged, a new slip may be 

 substituted and another egg given the same 

 number. 



Turkey Buzzard. 



Deak Editor: One thing which I 

 overlooked in my last was the allusion to 

 the Turkey Buzzard's egg in The Young 

 Oologist. I have two siDecimens in my 

 collection, one "found under a shelving 

 rock " on the east side of Beaucatcher 

 Mountain, near Ashville, N. C. The first 

 year I found the young birds two as ugly 

 specimens of Ornithology as I ever en- 

 countered. The following year I went 

 earlier (the last days of March), and found 

 only one egg which I took, fearing to wait 

 for another. The bird then abandoned 

 that locality. The eggs are not "hlue," 

 neither are there any "pink spots" on 

 them. Mr. Lusk must have found a "mare's 

 nest." The specimen which lies before me 

 has a creamy white ground, dotted all over 

 with spots and blotches of chocolate 

 brown from the nearest dot to spots i inch 

 in diameter and intermingled with fainter 

 markings and scratchiugs of a clay-blue 

 and lighter shades of brown, more thickly 

 at the large end. The other egg is similar, 

 and was given to me by a young collector 

 near the same place. There is no mistake 

 about either of them. Youis truly, 



N. A. S. 



York, Neb. 



Marsh Hawk. 



Saturday, May 10th, while collecting in 



a marsh, I found the nest of : a Marsh 



Hawk, containing five bluish-white eggs, 



faintly marked with reddish bro\vn spots. 



F. G. O., Lapeer, Mich. 



Two gentlemen, one named Woodcock, 

 the other Fuller, walking together, hap- 

 pening to see an owl, the last said : ' ' That 

 bird is very much like a Woodcock." 

 " You are very wrong." said the first; "for 

 it's Fuller in the head. Fuller in the eyes, 

 and Fuller all over." 



