THE OOLOGIST 



79 



Sure enough, I found my own name 

 mentioned, and in a manner, it would 

 seem which undoubtedly should have 

 called for more prompt attention 

 from me had I known of the existence 

 of the article. 



On page 16, Jan. 1915 issue, under 

 the title of "A Trip to Waynesburg, 

 Pa." by Mr. George M. Sutton I find in 

 his write-up of the collection of Mr. 

 Dickey, a casual mention of visiting 

 my home and viewing my collections. 

 It would seem, from reading Mr. Sut- 

 ton's note, that my interest in oology 

 was along curiosity lines than for 

 scientific study, but very far from the 

 truth is his impressions drawn. True, 

 I have a part of my collection in glass 

 cases to which Mr. Sutton offers ob- 

 jections on account of possibility of 

 damage by daylight; but had he been 

 as careful in his observations at my 

 home, as he apparently was while 

 visiting Mr. Dickey and Mr. Carter, he 

 would have seen at a glance that my 

 windows in this part of my house, 

 built expressly for my collections, 

 were very carefully shaded, not only 

 from above, but also a set of blinds 

 extended upward from the lower sill, 

 and overlapped the hanging set. 

 Furthermore, a set of hardwood box- 

 ings go completely around the sides 

 and top of the windows, thus exclud- 

 ing the light entirely. Nor are the 

 shifting blinds opened, except to al- 

 low enough light to show the eggs to 

 a visitor, and this too, only in addition 

 to the good electric lights grouped in 

 the center chandelier. Perhaps, on 

 the average, less light is allowed to 

 stream across these cases, than is or- 

 dinarily the case with the handling of 

 drawer cabinets. 



Mr. Sutton looked over cases of 

 eggs, many of which were collected 

 by the writer and other old timers, 

 long before he and his young friends, 

 whom he came to visit, were born; 



and owing to the jealous care and at- 

 tention I have given my collection, not 

 an egg has shown any signs of fading. 

 Furthermore, the collection of eggs of 

 birds native to Pennsylvania, of which 

 he does not comment of interest to 

 him, were exposed to ordinary inside 

 light for six months at the World's Co- 

 lumbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 

 1893; and for eight months at the St. 

 Louis World's Fair, 1904. The rare Pas- 

 senger Pigeon eggs, he incidentally 

 mentions having been broken while 

 on exhibition, were not lost but only 

 slightly fractured by careless assist- 

 ants in arranging the collection for a 

 three days exhibit at our County Cen- 

 tennial in 1896. This rare set was 

 taken in Minnesota in 1886. 



Just such occasions as Mr. Sutton's 

 visit to my rooms, long since, was re- 

 sponsible for my inclination to ar- 

 range a part of my collection in glass 

 cases. Visitors used to take up much 

 of my time as I had five large cabinets 

 of 10, 12 and 16 drawers each in which 

 I kept the regular classified collection 

 as well as the study series. After the 

 appearance of the press notices of my 

 egg exhibit at Chicago World's Fair, 

 persons came from far and wide to 

 see the collection, as well as groups 

 of students from college and schools 

 over the county. Even greater was 

 the request for a glimpse of my 

 "eggries" after the St. Louis Ex- 

 position in 1904, where a diploma and 

 gold medal was awarded my exhibit. 

 Very generously, I took up my time 

 showing interested persons a part of my 

 collection. To keep persons from 

 handling the specimens, and also to 

 have a representative collection easily 

 and quickly shown, I devised these 

 glass cases, each 8x2% feet, install- 

 ing the same in 1906, and must say 

 that the plan has been very satisfact- 

 ory to me, and not an egg has become 

 dirty or broken from being handled, 



