104 



THE OOLOGIST 



ceived a partial indorsement from ye 

 editor to the effect that it was a de- 

 sirable improvement to a data to 

 write one's name on the back when 

 disposing of the set recalls the time 

 many wears ago when this little idea 

 became a special fad. In fact most 

 collectors possessed themselves of 

 rubber stamps, some of them of ornate 

 design, and it was no novelty to re- 

 ceive a data the back of which was 

 completely covered with these "in- 

 dorsements." Then somebody got to 

 thinking, a pernicious habit never to 

 be indulged in when not absolutely 

 impossible to avoid and he saw that 

 a really superior set would not be 

 likely to pass through so many hands, 

 that if it was handsome, etc., some of 

 the owners would salt it away for 

 keeps instead of wishing it onto some- 

 body else and they also saw that, the 

 more the indorsements the more the 

 inferiority and another well meant 

 fad died a borning. 



Now why not cut out these new 

 ideas? Oology is getting a fairly old 

 science as many of us can personally 

 testify and why not let it go the way 

 the old masters invented it? 



A. B. Price. 



NOTES OF TWO SONG SPARROWS' 

 NESTS 



On June 7, 1910, at Valley Falls, 

 Montgomery County, Pa., I found a 

 Song Sparrow's nest containing four 

 eggs, by flushing the female off from 

 beneath my feet. The eggs were about 

 one-third incubated but what waa the 

 most remarkable thing about them 

 was that the embryo were dead and 

 decomposition had begun. It would be 

 interesting to know how long the fe- 

 male had sat on these worthless eggs. 



On May 21, 1911, at Jordantown, 

 Camden County, N. J., I found a song 

 sparrow's nest containing four addled 

 eggs. It was placed near the top of a 



low bank of a creek which had been 

 burnt over but a week before, and all 

 the foliage was destroyed and the nest 

 scorched by the flame. The female 

 was flushed from this nest. The fire 

 probably addled the eggs but it is re- 

 markable that it didn't burn the nest 

 or drive away the bird. 



Richard F. Miller. 



LEW WALLACE'S STOR\ 



General Lew Wallace yesterday re- 

 lated an incident which shows to a 

 remarkable extent the wonderful sa- 

 gacity and memory of blackbirds. 



"At my home over in Crawfords- 

 ville, Indiana," said the General, "we 

 have a large number of tall trees on 

 the lawn, and in course of time these 

 trees become the roosting place at 

 certain times of the year for hundreds 

 of thousands of blackbirds. They came 

 in great black clouds, and in spite of 

 all that I could do they refused to 

 leave. Of course, they were a great 

 nuisance, and I was in despair as to 

 some means of getting clear of them. 

 I stood for two days with my gun 

 firing into them of an evening killing 

 hundreds of them, but the rest did not 

 seem to be sufficiently struck by fear 

 or grief to want to part company with 

 me and my hospitality. I then de- 

 vised a new scheme. 



"Procuring a number of Roman 

 candles one evening, I lighted them 

 one by one after dark, when the 

 boughs of the tree bent low with the 

 weight of the croaking birds, and I 

 poured the candles into the tops of tne 

 trees at a great rate. * The sudden in- 

 novation startled the birds as nothing 

 had ever done before, and they became 

 panic stricken. That night I was free 

 of them. 



"The next evening, however, the 

 habit of returning there to roost was 

 stronger than fear, and they began 

 coming in by thousands, as the even- 



