168 



THE OOLOGIST 



A Fraud 



Joseph F. Honacker, "U. S. Ornitholo- 

 gist," Spokane, Wash. 



Once in a wliile it becomes tlie duty 

 for Tlie Oologist to warn reputable 

 egg collectors against the fraudulent 

 practices of some person who seeks 

 to impose upon the fraternity. This 

 is not a pleasant duty. However, it 

 is one that must be performed if the 

 science is to be kept free from this 

 class of parasites. 



The man whose name is at the head 

 of this column at present located in 

 Spokane, is one of this class. 



October 13, 1916, this man wrote the 

 Editor that he could let us have a set 

 of three eggs of the rare Harpy Eagle, 

 and also "some Passenger Pigeons' 

 eggs." We arranged to secure this 

 set of Harpy Eagle's eggs upon an 

 exchange basis of $60 in specimens. 



October 24, 1916, he wrote us that 

 a party in San Francisco had offered 

 $75 for these eggs. 



November 2d he wrote us selecting 

 the specimens that he wanted for the 

 Harpy Eagle's eggs. These specimens 

 were forwarded. 



Later, November 13th he wrote 

 again that in examining a 1905 Lat- 

 tin's catalogue "on the second cover 

 page I see that there is a discount of 

 25 per cent on orders amounting to 

 $10 or over, and as my order amounts 

 to $60 I am entitled to the $15 dis- 

 count." Of course we declined to al- 

 low this discount. The dis- 

 count is based on a cash transaction 

 and is never based on an exchange. 



The data accompanying the Harpy 

 Eagle's eggs was a typewritten data 

 and was signed by Honacker and of 

 course was not satisfactory. 



We again wrote November 27th, 

 "Please send to me at your early con- 

 venience data in German, a transcript 

 of which you sent me typewritten, 

 which accompanies the set of 1-3 



Harpy Eagle, as I would like to have 

 the original data," he having written 

 us that the data was a letter written 

 in German by the alleged collector. 

 Later he wrote that this letter had 

 been lost, and then again wrote us 

 that it had been inadvertantly burned. 



An examination of this set of Harpy 

 Eagle's eggs convinced us that we 

 had been swindled. The eggs of all 

 birds of prey of this family when held 

 to the light after being blown, will 

 show the interior to be lined with a 

 greenish colored lining. This set 

 showed nothing of the kind. It is our 

 opinion that they are three eggs of 

 the common Peafowl artifically 

 colored on the outside. 



However, later we took the matter 

 of these eggs up through various 

 sources and we learned that eggs of 

 this bird had been offered by Hon- 

 acker to Walter Raine of Kew Beach, 

 Toronto, Canada, who is perhaps one 

 of the best experts on North American 

 Birds eggs in existence, and who im- 

 mediately pronounced them fraudulent 

 and returned them to Honacker. That 

 he had likewise sold a set to Ward's 

 Natural Science Establishment, who 

 afterwards re-sold them to Mrs. Jane 

 E. Childers of Clarksville, Tennessee. 

 All the time he was claiming these 

 eggs to have been taken near Bogata 

 in South America. 



An investigation carried on by us 

 in that territory disclosed the fact 

 that no eggs are known to have been 

 taken there by anybody. That the 

 man whom Honacker alleges to have 

 been there and taken these eggs was 

 never heard of in that territory by 

 anyone whom those connected with 

 the American Embassy there could 

 find. And finally Honacker himself in 

 a letter, sends us the data which he 

 says is the data for this set of Harpy 

 Eagle's eggs with which he has 

 swindled us, a facsimile reproduction 



