THE OOLOGIST 



158 



small knot, and to my surprise it con- 

 tained five fresh eggs. As I was wrap- 

 ping the eggs to lower them in my col- 

 lection box, both birds appeared on 

 the scene. They seemed very tame, 

 coming within a few feet of my head. 

 They showed no fighting ability, but 

 would drop from the top branches 

 down near me with the same antics as 

 the Yellow Breast Chat, with the tail 

 straight up; at the same time afford- 

 ing me a good view of both birds. 1 

 then cut the limb off that had the nest 

 on it with my pocket knife, tying both 

 nest and collecting box together 1 

 lowered them 58 feet to the ground 

 and started down the tree. As I was 

 within about 25 feet from the ground 

 I caught hold of a rotten limb which, 

 of course, broke and sent me on a 

 downward journey at a full rate of 

 speed, head first. But as I was an 

 acrobat in my younger days, I found a 

 chance to use it here; giving my body 

 a wiggle, I landed in a sitting down 

 position. After I woke up and the 

 smoke cleared away, I found my left 

 arm sticking in the ground (you will 

 hear of my arm later), pulling it out 

 I wound up 65 feet of cord, dug a 

 hole with my foot under the tree and 

 buried my climbers (they are still 

 there). I started home at my leisure, 

 still looking for other nests. I met 

 two of my friends, and after talking 

 with them for about half an hour, I 

 continued my trip home. Arriving at 

 home I put up the eggs, washed my 

 face and hands, got a newspaper and 

 read awhile, then I happened to think 

 about the condition of my arm. I went 

 and saw a doctor about it. He pro- 

 nounced it broken. After setting my 

 arm he said, "$15.00 please." A short 

 & Lattins catalogue prices the Blue 

 Grey Gnatcatcher eggs at 35 cents 

 each, the five eggs cost me at the 

 rate of $3,00 per egg. How is this for 

 paying a high price for cheap eggs? 



I blowed this set and others tlie next 

 day with that broken arm of mine. 



I am at present spending my time in 

 Fort Worth, Texas. I have met Mr. R. 

 Graham, who runs a taxidermy shop 

 here and has a collection of eggs, 

 Emmett Maxon and several other egg 

 collectors, and find them to be good 

 fellows. I expect to hunt Turkey and 

 Black Vultures, Road Runners and 

 Scissor Tail Flycatchers next spring 

 with Mr. Graham, and hope to send in 

 an account of our luck. 



Hoping everyone good luck this com- 

 ing season, I remain. 



Earl E. Moffat, 

 Govt. Bird Censor for Marshall , Tex. 



»-^<»-> 



Two Trials. 



There is nothing rare or especially 

 interesting in a Blue Jay nest, but 

 when two sets of eggs are collected 

 from the same nest it becomes at 

 once out of the ordinary and well 

 worth mentioning. On April 25, 1816, 

 I secured a set of five Jay eggs from 

 a nest in the city park at Urbana 

 Illinois. The nest was of the usual 

 type, placed twenty feet up from a 

 platform formed by the growth of a 

 bunch of small twigs vertical to the 

 trunk of a wiiite oak. The eggs, which 

 were alive, tan in color and spotted 

 with darker brown and black, were 

 taken, but the nest was left intact. 



May 23, 1916, I passed under the 

 tree and saw a Jay brooding on the 

 old nest. I ascended and found a fine 

 set of six fresh eggs of the same gen- 

 eral color as the preceding set. The 

 nest had not been repaired nor enlarg- 

 ed. It is a decidedly unusual occur- 

 rence for a Jay or similar bird to lay 

 two clutches in the same nest, is it 

 not? Walter A. Goelitz. 



Ravinia, III. 



