72 



THE OOLOGIST 



better than meet Assemblyman Frank 

 H. Lattin of Albion, the man who con- 

 ceived the idea of a publication first 

 known as the "Young Oologist," and 

 which is today known as the "Oolo- 

 gist," the grown up product of the lit- 

 tle sheet which first saw the light of 

 day at Gaines, N. Y,, back in 1884. 



"How did I happen to start the Oolo- 

 gist"? said Assemblyman Lattin the 

 other day, in reply to a question. 



"I was a farm boy, fond of collect- 

 ing birds' eggs, minerals and about 

 everything else other than money 

 that was collectible. I excluded the 

 money part for the reason that so far 

 as I could discover there was very 

 little in the entire world, of which in 

 those days, G-aines was the center. 



"I inserted a swap ad in some of the 

 magazines such as 'The Golden Days,' 

 but learned that while many boys and 

 men, too, in the cities, were desirous 

 of obtaining birds' eggs which x had 

 on hand, they really had nothing to 

 swap and so I was forced to place a 

 money value on the birds' eggs, which 

 I had collected. I presume that I 

 placed a value on eggs, the first of its 

 kind, and which I know was the au- 

 thority for years, and which is still, 

 with slight changes, a price authority. 



"And from that beginning, there 

 eventually came a business which re- 

 sulted in my frequently receiving as 

 high as 500 letters a day, and the lit- 

 tle postoffice at Gaines was almost 

 swamped with business. During those 

 days, I had many thousands of eggs 

 in my possession, and one man was 

 kept constantly at a mailing desk, 

 packing and shipping eggs to all quar- 

 ters of the globe. I well remember 

 some of the letters, coming as they 

 did from members of the royal family 

 in more than one country, including 

 South America and Europe. 



"I had figured and still maintain 

 that one out of every ten tljousand 



persons is interested in some phase of 

 bird life, either in the collection of 

 eggs, or skins, or in making some 

 other study that possesses a singular 

 attractiveness other than a mere pas- 

 sing fad. When I was in the business 

 both as the editor and publisher of the 

 Oologist, as well as in handling eggs, 

 skins, minerals and curios, I had every 

 reason to believe that I was in touch 

 with that one individual in every ten 

 thousand of our population. 



"Just to show you that far reaching 

 effects and likewise how long some 

 persons will remember persons iden- 

 tified with their own particular hobby, 

 if you can call it such, I will cite an 

 instance which occurred only a year 

 or so ago, long after I was out of the 

 business in an active way. In one 

 week, I received letters from Java, 

 England, France and Canada, each 

 from persons who remembered me 

 through my associations with the 

 Oologist and who were desirous of 

 securing eggs or skins, or some infor- 

 mation. 



"And so I think that I am reason- 

 ably proud of the Oologist as it exist- 

 ed in the past and more than proud 

 that this child of 1884 has grown to 

 full fiedged manhood and is today oc- 

 cupying so important a position, so 

 well rounded out in its maturity 

 through able editorship, that it .serves 

 its purpose in the fullest sense of the 

 word." C. L. Grant. 



Illinoisans 



At the present writing I am taking 

 seventeen 'magazines on various bran- 

 ches of Natural History, but none 

 gives me the pleasure that the Oolo- 

 gist does. The country is flooded with 

 bird magazines (I am glad to say) but 

 this little paper is unique. Its stabil- 

 ity is certain. For over thirty-five 

 years it has faithfully been published. 

 I wonder if the IJlinoisans appreciate 



