

Vol. V, 



E # 00L0GIS 



ALBION, N. Y., MAY, 1888. 



No. 5 



OOLOGY. 



Advice to Live Collectors. 



The season for collecting eggs is now np- 

 proaching. The robin, bluebird, phoebe 

 and other harbingers of spring are puttiug 

 in an appearance. The frogs have reor- 

 ganized their orchestra and have com- 

 menced giving concerts in the swamps and 

 meadows. The grass will soon begin to 

 look green, and the buds will swell and 

 soon throw out their green foliage. All na- 

 ture rejoices in her liberation from the icy 

 chains of old winter. Soon all nature will 

 be full of life and activity. Our feathered 

 friends, the birds, will soon commence 

 making arrangements for housekeeping. 

 After mating, they will select a suitable 

 place for their nests and commence build- 

 ing them in earnest, and before we are 

 aware of it they will contain their full com- 

 plement of eggs. The active collector 

 should get everything iu readiness as soon 

 as possible for the spring and summer cam- 

 paign. His instruments for preparing the 

 eggs for the cabinet should be looked over 

 and placed where they will be ready for use. 

 He should refer to his books on ornithology 

 and oology (of which every lire collector 

 should have a few), and take a few notes 

 in reference to the time and place of nest- 

 ing of our birds from the earliest to the 

 latest species. Arrange a mental list in or- 

 order of nesting, so that he can commence 

 this year's work in a systematic manner, 

 and make it a success. 



Too many of our young collectors are 

 very careless in making their collections. 

 Never take an egg or set till you have fully 

 identified it, then when it is placed in the 

 cabinet it can be correctly labeled. Col-, 

 lectors differ in opinions in regard to the 

 number of eggs of each species to be placed 



in a cabinet; some collect one, some two, 

 of each kind, while others must have the 

 whole "set." Two eggs of a kind make a 

 pretty collection when nicely arranged iu 

 a cabinet. For a majority of collectors, 

 two eggs are enough, and especially among' 

 that class who collect because it is fashiona- 

 ble to have a cabinet of eggs to show their 

 friends, but as soon as the excitement wears 

 away, their collection is given away to some 

 other person to go through the same pro- 

 gramme, or destroyed. Every honest col- 

 lector should do all he can to discourage 

 this class of collectors. 



Another class to be feared is the one that 

 collects because "'there is money in it." 

 The love of money destroys all the en- 

 nobling qualities of the pursuit. Some 

 persons make a business of collecting be- 

 cause they can sell what they find, never 

 forming a cabinet of their own. They have 

 no more care about the havoc they create 

 among our feathered friends than the rum- 

 seller cares what the consequences may be 

 when he sells a glass of spirits to a man. 

 These collectors have destroj T ed, indirectly, 

 so many of our rarer visitors that some 

 states have been called upon to make laws 

 regulating this business. It would place 

 some of these so-called collectors under em- 

 barrassing circumstances if some one should 

 enforce this law some fine day. All col- 

 lectors should thoroughly study our laws 

 in reference to this subject and keep on the 

 safe side. By so doing, they can create a 

 moral sentiment in their favor among that 

 class of people who consider all collectors 

 "cranks," and who, under the slightest 

 provocation, would haul a ' ' birds' egg col- 

 lector,' - as they call them, before the Courts. 



An honest and enthusiastic student will 

 be respected by all, and will receive help 

 and encouragement from many sources 

 where none was expected. 



