THE OOLOGIST 



new land for farming purposes, the 

 hunter who kills all raptores on gen- 

 eral principles, and a dozen and one 

 other causes, have prevented the pair 

 from utilizing the old homestead. 



The little incident I am about to re- 

 late happened some years ago, though 

 still fresh in my memory as if it had 

 happened yesterday. 



It was one day in the first week of 

 March that I crossed the James river 

 to visit one of my old standbys. Or- 

 dinarily the 22nd of February m this 

 section finds fresh, or nearly fresh 

 eggs. That year the weather around 

 that date had been anything but con- 

 ducive to egg laying. As 1 started out 

 the sun was shining, but before get- 

 ting off the boat the sky was overcast 

 with snow clouds. 



After securing a small batteau or 

 rowboat, and a colored boy to help 

 row across the three mile stretch of 

 open water and up the creek, we ar- 

 rived within a half mile of the nest. 

 Snow had already commenced to fall, 

 and by the time that I had reached the 

 foot of the tree, I could hardly see 

 the nest, so thick had it become. A 

 rap on the tree and off she camo ; and 

 what man could resist the temptation, 

 even under such adverse conditions! 

 Only certain pairs of birds are prone 

 to lay three eggs, is my belief, after 

 long association with these birds. 

 This pair had always been a three egg 

 pair, so with great expectations, I 

 started the ascent. The tree was a 

 dead pine on the side of a creek, four 

 feet across the stump, with the nest 

 located in topmost crotch, some 65 

 feet up. 



The tree had been dead some years, 

 but since my last visit to it, three 

 years previous, it had decayed rapid- 

 ly. All the bark was now off and the 

 climber spurs would tear their way 

 downward through the rotten outer 

 wood, at every stroke. The heart and 



limb spurs were, however, pure 'light 

 wood,' as we say in the South, and 

 with the aid of my two trusty eagle 

 straps, I managed to work my way up 

 under the nest. Its shelter from the 

 driving sleet and snow was welcome, 

 for by this time the slush on the tree 

 trunk and stubs had soaked such 

 parts of my clothes as usually come 

 in contact with trees of this charac- 

 ter, while my bare hands were blue 

 with cold, though the exertion kept 

 my body warm. 



In looking over the situation from 

 under the nest, I found that since my 

 last visit, one of the main upright 

 limbs that had allowed me to get up 

 over the top of the nest, had broken 

 off. After working carefully all 

 around the trunk, under the nest, I 

 could see no way to get "over the 

 top." Things were now getting chilly 

 and time short, so I commenced a 

 hasty destruction of one side of this 

 massive structure, commencing at 

 the bottom. Inch by inch I worked 

 upwards, taking out one side of the 

 nest. If my readers think this an 

 easy task, I should like to have them 

 try it, for an old nest is packed to- 

 gether layer on layer, year after year, 

 until a hatchet would be a more suit- 

 able article to work with than bare 

 fingers. And now I come to the in- 

 teresting part of my story, for as I 

 came to the next to top layer, what 

 should I see but an eagle egg. Care- 

 fully I extracted the last season's in- 

 fertile egg from the mass of sticks on 

 op of it, and deposited it in the coffee 

 can in my side pocket. The last layer 

 of material was soon torn away, and 

 with the aid of my longest strap, I 

 was able to swing outward and reach 

 up over the cut out side to the middle 

 of the nest. 



Three more eggs, four in all taken 

 from the same nest the same day, and 

 I with only a single can prepared for 



