THE OOLOQI8T 



175 



circulating above tlie tree tops and 

 when I got to the place where I had 

 seen the bird I at once discovered a 

 nest about forty feet up in a red oak 

 tree. I now took my bird glasses from 

 my belt and looking at the nest I could 

 see some feathers on the outside of the 

 nest, I put on my climbers and 

 fastened my egg box and folding hand 

 camera to my belt and began to climb 

 the tree. 



On reaching the nest I found four 

 white eggs variously blotched and 

 spotted with different sha'des of brown. 

 The nest was made of sticks lined with 

 fine rootlets, grass, etc. I now climbed 

 about three feet above the nest and 

 took a picture of the nest and the eggs. 

 I now took the eggs, one at a time, 

 rolled them in cotton and put them in 

 my collecting box, and when I got to 

 the bottom of the tree I also took a 

 picture of the tree which contained 

 the nest. 



I was glad to get 'Jiis set of eggs for 

 Red Tailed Hawks are somewhat rare 

 in this locality. — C. F. Pahrman. 



EGG COLLECTING 



Dr. William Rounds 

 Among the many interesting articles 

 in the October number of the Oologist 

 your review of Vol. 2, 1-2, 1921 Journal 

 of the Museum of Comparative Oology 

 has furnished me food for thought. 

 Since I have not seeii the Journal and, 

 therefore, cannot be accused ol' 

 plagiarism am venturing an individual 

 cpinicn upon that branch of Ornithol- 

 ogy in which we are most interested. 

 Prof. Clifton F. Hodge in his book 

 Nature Study and Life mentions inter- 

 est in flowers as falling along three 

 lines: First, a fondness for the 

 exotic products of the conservatory to 

 be worn for a few hours at theatre or 

 ball and then cast aside. An attach- 

 ment as fleeting as the bloom_ 



Second: The interest of the botanist 



who desires to be a'ble to classify 

 more species than his colleagues. 

 Laudable in itself this ambition is 

 only dangerous as it tends toward 

 egotism. 



Third: The love of the gardener 

 for the plants of his culture and tend- 

 ing. A love which is almost parental 

 in its watchful solicitude. 



We may easily find oological types 

 that conform to each of these three 

 classes. 



First: The careless collector to 

 whom egg-taking is the result of an 

 evanescent fad; whose identification 

 are faulty, whose data blanks are in- 

 complete and to whom a note book is 

 unknown. So far as possible he 

 should be shown the error of his ways. 

 That he is taxing wild bird life with- 

 out adequate return in the form of ac- 

 quired knowledge and that his un- 

 identified specimens are as valueless 

 as a string of party-colored beads . In 

 this connection, and because many of 

 these collectors are immature boys, I 

 believe that bird protection organiza- 

 tion issuing descriptive leafiets in 

 color should include color reproduc- 

 tions of the egg (natural size where 

 practicable or, if reduced, show frac- 

 tional reduction). That this may be ac- 

 complished is shown by color illustra- 

 tions of eggs of North American Div- 

 ing birds, U. S. National Museum Bul- 

 letin 107. Am making above sugges- 

 tions because of the tendency of edu- 

 cational leaflets to omit or slight refer- 

 ence to nesting habits or egg descrip- 

 tions. Presumably this oversight is 

 due to the thought that illegal and 

 careless collecting can best be inhibit- 

 ed by secrecy. But the American boy, 

 out-of-doors, is challenged by mystery 

 and, if robust and red blooded, .is a 

 constant investigator of the unknown. 

 We will do more toward bird protec- 

 tion by taking him into cur full con- 

 fidence. 



The second type of flower devotee^ 



