THE OOLOGIST 



169 



of the letter and of the data appear- 

 ing on the following pages of this 

 issue of The Oologist. 



During all of this time (this tran- 

 saction commenced July 27, 1916; 

 Honacker has signed all communi- 

 cation, "Jos. F. Honacker, U. S. Or- 

 nithologist." A letter from E. W. Nel- 

 son, Chief U. S. Biological Survey, un- 

 der date of January 22, 1917, with 

 reference to Honacker's using this 

 title, says, "It appears that his using 

 the title named above has no ofCicial 

 sanction." 



So it appears that this man is not 

 only disposing of fradulent specimens 

 of eggs, but he is likewise using a 

 ficticious title in furthering his 

 nefarious ends. 



He has also endeavored to trick A. 

 C. Price of Grant Park, Illinois, with 

 his so-called Passenger Pigeon eggs, 

 but Price was not easy enough to be 

 caught. 



Likewise of late he has been pub- 

 lishing alleged observations wherein 

 he is supposed to have discovered and 

 observed rare and unusual birds in the 

 vicinity of Spokane, which as a mat- 

 ter of fact, never appear in that terri- 

 tory. 



How on earth a man of this record 

 could become connected with a pub- 

 lic Museum unless he has defrauded 

 the Museum with his alleged title "U. 

 S. Ornithologist" in securing his ap- 

 pointment, passeth understanding. If 

 the Spokane Public Museum desires 

 to continue as a recognized institution 

 having scientific rank and standing, 

 the sooner it dispores of "Jen. F. Hon- 

 acker, U. S. Ornithologist" and Cura- 

 tor, the better. His letter and the 

 data herewith reproduced show him 

 to be both a fool and a knave. We 

 wonder how many others he has de- 

 frauded with "Passenger Pigeon and 

 Harpy Eagle eggs." 



R. M. Barnes. 



RECOLLECTIONS 



On an ice cold morning, October 

 22nd, 1911, one of my grandsons, Ot- 

 tomar Schwartz, at Niagara Falls, took 

 his gun and with a companion started 

 out to the western side of Navy Island, 

 the second island above Niagara Falls, 

 in their boat. At the head of Navy 

 Island they saw a large bird drop in- 

 to the ice cold water. I was so far 

 from them that my grandson aimed a 

 foot above and by doing so hit the 

 bird. He sent his companion back to 

 get the boat, but at the same time 

 saw that the bird recovered. In order 

 not to lose it, he threw off his clothes 

 end plunged into the cold water. 

 When he finally came to the bird, he 

 tucked the struggling bird under his 

 arm and swam back to the shore. 



In the evening, I received a tele- 

 gram from him to come down to Ni- 

 agara Falls, said he had a large bird 

 and that I could have the skin, but 

 that he wanted the body for a feast. 

 I done as he advised, and found to 

 my surprise that it was a fat male 

 Canada Goose. I brought it to Buf- 

 falo and had it mounted by our Taxi- 

 dermist, Mr. H. Grieb. It now oc- 

 cupies a good place in my collection. 

 Ottomar Reinecke, 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



From a Boy Bird Lover 

 I am a 17 year old boy and have 

 been st'idving birds for nine years and 

 mv lipt nov^ numbers 154 species of 

 of which 16 have been identified this 

 summer, so this shows I don't know it 

 all yet. 



One thing abo"t the Ozark Mountain 

 bird life is that although I have never 

 been able to find a nest, we have 

 Snowy Egrets here on the rivers all 

 summer. I keep a daily diary and 

 feed the birds in winter. My winters 

 are always full of birds on several 

 feeding stations. I have up several 



