THE OOLOGIST 



141 



that the beauty of a bird egg should 

 have some weight in the regulating of 

 its value. 



There were days in the Oological 

 world when Major Charles Emil Ben- 

 dire and Dr. William Rolph summered 

 together at Holland Point, N. Y. Both 

 were shining examplar of perfect bird 

 egg preparation and the best in oology. 



Each in time filled the office of 

 Honorary Curator of Bird Eggs in the 

 U. S. National Museum. Bendire's 

 great work will live down the ages as 

 a monument to its author. Dr. Ralph's 

 preparation of specimens were by far 

 the best in the country. Even in large 

 eggs the holes in his specimens were 

 scarcely larger than a pin point, and 

 the nests were always treated to the 

 tenderest care. Mr. B. H. Swales is 

 accredited as the present head of the 

 department of Oology, U. S. National 

 Museum. Questions on birds' eggs 

 used to receive prompt answers from 

 the late Curator, and it is presumed 

 that the same is still the same. 



What is the most beautiful bird? 

 Some there are, who would at once 

 place their choice with the lovely 

 "Bird of Paradise," others prefer the 

 Trogons and Quetzel ; some think the 

 Sun Birds and others place the palm 

 with the lovely Trochilidae or Hum- 

 mingbirds. What is the general 

 opinion? 



In a recent Simthsonian publication 

 there is a notice that Mr. A. C. Bent 

 of Taunton, Mass., of fame as a close 

 observer of the Anatidae, is preparing 

 a series of publications on the life his- 

 tory of birds, the manuscript for the 

 first volume being in the hands of the 

 printer. The Smithsonian will thus 

 augment its contributions to Oology. 

 It was much to be regretted that Dr. 

 W. I. Ralph died before he could com- 



plete Major Bendire's Life Histories of 

 North American Birds, at which he 

 was at work, compiling material from 

 all over the country. 



The Museum of comparative Oology 

 at Santa Barbara, Calif., seem to us 

 to be an admirable institution. The 

 Golden Gate is seemingly ahead of all 

 others anyway in ornithological study, 

 and bids fair to become one of the 

 leaders in the oological branch. The 

 principal of the Museum is to study 

 larger series and its Journal, the first 

 number of which has appeared, and 

 which is issued annually, examplies 

 what an advantage "A draw to a 

 species" rule has and the good and 

 bad way to arrange nests. A hand- 

 some series of the Duck Hawk and 

 Prairie Falcon are shown. The Santa 

 Crux Jay comes in as a favorite in 

 the show of a fine series of nests and 

 sets. The Willard collection of well 

 prepared sets from Arizona has been 

 embodied in the collection which also 

 includes that of Musem's head who 

 has a new work on California's Birds 

 well under preparation; the most 

 sumptuous work of its kind. Leo. W. 

 Dawson, with such a head the museum 

 could not do otherwise than fare well. 

 The long list of the best workers in 

 Oology including Mr. E. J. Court, Jr. 

 Joseph Grinnell, and others on its 

 staff, bids well for the welfare of the 

 enterprise and in the co-operative way 

 much good work should result. 



Some time ago we had the pleasure 

 of examining the great British 

 Museum collection of Birds Eggs in 

 London and it has perhaps no su- 

 perior. Although we think the collec- 

 tion in our own National Museum con- 

 taining as it does the Ralph and Ben- 

 dire Collections surpasses it in point 

 of preparation. The collection con- 

 tains a set of the Everglade Kite from 



