THE OOLOGIST 



167 



A New Egg Price List 



The following communication com- 

 ing to The Oologist is self-explanatory. 

 The editor is disposed to take this 

 matter up and push it to a final con- 

 clusion if we can get sufficient assist- 

 ance. All Oologists who are willing 

 tc volunteer to assist us in carrying 

 this new catalog on please write us at 

 once. 



"Dear Mr. Barnes: What do you 

 think of the advisability and possibil- 

 ity of getting up a revised Egg Cata- 

 logue? It has been some 14 years 

 since Taylor's "Catalogue" was issued, 

 and it seems to me that it would be 

 a good thing to make a careful census 

 of the opinions of the present-day 

 Oologists, and issue the results of 

 their work. In thinking over the mat- 

 ter I had in mind to begin a rather 

 active correspondence with this in 

 view, and publish the results serially 

 in the "Oologists." Later it occurred 

 to me that after a revision of these 

 articles, the "catalogue" might be 

 issued in attractive form together 

 with chapters by leading collectors 

 on various subjects of interest. Among 

 these "chapter" I had some such sub- 

 jects as these in contemplation: 



On Collecting Eggs. 



The Preparation of Specimens. 



Famous Nesting Localities. 



Worthy Collections and Famous 

 Specimens. 



Some Old Time Collectors, and Their 

 Work. 



Eggs with a History. 



Curious and Interesting Discoveries. 



Photographing Nests and Eggs. 



On Building up an Oological Collec- 

 tion. 



Each one of these subjects should 

 be assigned to the person best quali- 

 fied to handle it, and these chapters 

 might also be published serially in 

 the Oologisf. 



I have this conviction that a con- 



census of ideas would go far to sup- 

 plementing the work already done by 

 the older cataloguers, and perhaps ar- 

 rive at some approximate value for 

 specimens heretofore left unpriced. I 

 should think that a selection of some 

 20 or 25 leading collectors would be 

 sufficient for this purpose; surely that 

 many would be glad to render their 

 opinion and help in the working out 

 of a new list. 



I think no catalogue has appeared 

 which has been satisfactory from a 

 typographical point, and there are sev- 

 eral suggestions to be made in the 

 make up of a catalogue which would 

 make it of much value to the collector. 



As this is a preliminary matter I 

 wait your opinion, not having, as yet, 

 conferred with any one else on the 

 subject. I should count it a labor of 

 love to carry through the correspond- 

 ence necessary to complete the work, 

 if I could get some assurance that it 

 would be published, and that such a 

 list would be desired." 



The American Crow 

 By H. H. Johnson, Pittsfield, Maine 

 Recently when reading an old copy 

 of The Oologist in which the question 

 was asked if birds fight until death 

 overtakes one or both of the combat- 

 ants it brought to my mind an oc- 

 currence of that nature which but for 

 my intervention I have no doubt that 

 death would have been the fate of two 

 Crows. It was in the spring of 1914, 

 March 20th to be exact. The first 

 Crows arrive here commonly the first 

 week of that month. One or two the 

 first day, but soon in numbers, depend- 

 ing on the weather. If it be warm 

 and pleasant the numbers increase 

 fast, otherwise they come in less num- 

 bers. The first of March is the time 

 when the snow is melting fast and the 

 first bare knolls begin to show on the 

 higher land and the swamps and 



