THE OOLOQI8T 



101 



fashioned inside blinds. In that room 

 were six glass topped cases each about 

 ten feet long and four and a half feet 

 wide, standing on small carpenter 

 horse trusses, with the centers high 

 so that the glass tops which hung 

 from the middle sloped downward on 

 each side. These cases were about 

 twenty inches deep on the outside 

 edges, and were covered with old 

 newspapers, and the place was draped 

 with cobwebs and covered with dust 

 of former years, littered with piles of 

 cigar boxes, dozens of old-fashioned 

 paper collar boxes and relics of by- 

 gone times. 



Then in our dream this brightly ac- 

 tive man commenced to pull the dusty 

 papers o^ these glass cases, and then 

 came the real surprise of the experi- 

 ence. Here is what we dreamed we 

 saw: 



THE FIRST CASE disclosed on one 

 side nests and sets of the Raven, 

 Great-horned, Long-eared, Short-eared, 

 Bared and Burrowing Owls. The care 

 with which the nests had been pre- 

 served was truly remarkable. 



The other side of this case contain- 

 ed sets of eggs of the White Egret, 

 Great White Heron, Esquimo and 

 Long-billed Curlew, Hudsonian and 

 Marbled Godwit, Woodcock, Wilson 

 snipe, Least, Solitary, and Bartram- 

 ian Sandpipers, Black Turn-stone and 

 three American Phalaropes and the 

 rare Stilt Sandpiper besides other 

 Waders. 



CASE TWO contained Eggs of the 

 Ostrich, Emu, Cassaway, numerous 

 rare Gulls and all the American Ja- 

 :ers; on one side, and eggs of the 

 Greater and Lesser Snow Geese, a set 

 of Hooded Merganser and another of 

 the almost extinct Trumpeter Swan. 



CASE THREE had a nest and set of 

 eggs of the Golden Eagle, and of Har- 

 lan's Hawk, the Swallow-tailed Kite, 

 besides nests and eggs of the Sharp 



shinned. Coopers, Broad winged, Red- 

 tailed and Red shouldered and other 

 common Hawks. 



Then we crossed the aisle and glad- 

 dened our eyes looking at CASE 

 FOUR, by gazing at twenty Wild 

 Pigeons (there were 46 of these all 

 told in the collection) a set of Long- 

 billed Curlew, another nest and set 

 of eggs of the Swallow-tailed Kite, 

 and a large number of sets of the Gal- 

 linaceous birds, Quails, Grouse, 

 Prairie chicken, Sage Grouse, etc. As 

 though this were not enough our 

 dream host, the kindly old deaf man 

 pulled out two drawers which were 

 built in the bottom of this case. 

 Among the treasures there dis- 

 closed were fourteen sets of the Sand- 

 hill Crane, 86 eggs of the Broad- 

 winged Hawk, a box containing a set 

 of eggs and the only nest that we 

 know of, of the Wild Pigeon. (It is 

 strange that with the millions of 

 pigeons that formerly inhabited this 

 country, and the hundreds of eggs 

 that were preserved by collectors that 

 nobody ever thought of saving a nest). 

 We prized this nest more than any 

 other Wild Pigeon egg that we have 

 ever had. It was splendidly collected 

 and beautifully preserved, and is 

 without a doubt, the finest speciman 

 of its kind in existence, — if only real 

 and not a mere dream nest. 



CASE FIVE we looked dreamily 

 into. This receptacle contained many 

 specimens brought down by the R. R. 

 MacFarland Arctic expedition. Great 

 Northern Shrike, Tree Sparrow and 

 others. ' Many Warblers of the rare 

 varieties with nests in situ. Black- 

 throated Green, Black-throated Blue, 

 Yellow Rumped Prairie and others; 

 nests filled with rare Sparrows and 

 Flycatchers, beautiful nests of the 

 Blue Gray Gnatcatcher and many 

 others, crowded this receptacle. Again 

 our dream guide drew out the two 



