THE OOLOOIST ^^ (~^^. 



131 



fore the high water we would have 

 passed twenty-five or fifty nests of 

 Coots, Galinules, Grebes, etc. without 

 counting the Herons. I brought home 

 a very odd nest. (I left it in the barn 

 and my horse got loose and destroyed 

 it). It was quite large, built of stalks 

 of coarse grass called here cane break 

 growing six to eight feet high, and 

 all around the eggs or outside of the 

 nest were pieces of this grass stuck 

 in the nest and some straight up from 

 one to two feet high. 



A few years ago they began dredg- 

 ing and I hear hundreds of acres have 

 been plowed. I have not been there 

 for several years. 



Delos Hatcn, 

 Oakfield, Wis. 



GREAT AUK'S EGG 

 Valued at $3500 is Found Near Oakland 



Oakland, — One of only 60 eggs of 

 the great auk known to be in exist- 

 ence has been discovered in the little 

 town livery stable of Newark, a suburb 

 of Oakland. The livery stable is worth 

 perhaps a few hundred dollars. The 

 rare egg it houses is worth $3500 at a 

 conservative estimate. 



The museum committee of the Oak- 

 land chamber of commerce made the 

 discovery. While seeking out rarities 

 for a great museum in which to dis- 

 play $1,000,000 of Egyptian antiquities 

 which Mrs. Phoebe Hearst has offered 

 to Oakland, the committee stumbled 

 on the egg collection of H. A. Snow, 

 the town liveryman of Newark. Be- 

 sides the great aug egg it was found 

 that he had three California condor 

 eggs, also much sought after by col- 

 lectors, and other eggs valued at 

 about $30,000. 



Great auk eggs are few and far be- 

 tween. The Thayer collection of 

 Boston boasts of ten. Most of these 

 recently were imported from England, 

 where the pinch of war has compelled 



many collectors to part with their 

 most prized specimens. The British 

 museum also has a number of great 

 auk eggs. 



The Snow egg is not for sale. 

 Neither is the collection. The livery- 

 man, who has spent most of his life 

 in robbing birds' nests all over the 

 world, says emphatically that it shall 

 go only to the Oakland museum. — San 

 Jose Mercury. — W. A. Strong, San 

 Jose, Cal. 



The foregoing newspaper clipping 

 sent us by friend Strong seems to 

 base the value of eggs largely, if not 

 entirely on a money basis, which is 

 not the proper measure of value, and 

 often plays little part in fixing the real 

 value, which of course in the end is a 

 scientific value based upon the rarity 

 of the specimen and the authenticity 

 of the data and the standing and rank 

 of the collector. Great Auk's eggs 

 known to exist in the world number 

 87 and not 60 as stated. Their value 

 depends upon preparation, preserva- 

 tion, coloration, etc. and ranges right 

 around $1200 to $1500 each; not $3500 

 as stated. 



The Editor. 



THE SALT LAKERS. 



Professional business took the Edi- 

 tor of The Oologist to Ogden, Utah 

 on the 23d of March. Being unavoid- 

 ly held over Sunday the 25th, he took 

 the Ugden & Salt Lake Electric Com- 

 pany cars for the latter named city 

 in pursuance of his regular habit of 

 hunting up all bird men that he knows 

 of in places he visits. 



He met Dr. B. Moore Lindsey in the 

 famous Utah Hotel which is his home. 

 Spent a very pleasant forenoon in hi? 

 company, listening with much interest 

 to his detailing experiences in many 

 of the unfrequented portions of the 

 earth's surface. The doctor is one of 

 the most widely travelled men with 



