THE OOLOGIST. 



121 



diligent Bearch of a few minutes located the 

 nest which contained a set of 3 fine eggs, 

 which I soon packed snugly away in my col- 

 lecting box. I now started for the nests 

 above mentioned and was soon convinced 

 that they contained eggs, for the actions of 

 the birds were very pronounced. They 

 new down close to our heads, all the while 

 uttering plaintive cries of distress. I at 

 once commenced to ascend to the nest, 

 which I soon reached and was surprised to 

 rind that it contained a beautiful set of 

 three fine eggs. These I quickly deposit- 

 ed in my collecting box and had commen- 

 ced to decend, when I was very much sur- 

 prised at seeing a Grackle fly from among 

 the loose material of the Fish Hawks nest 

 aud upon investigating I found snugly 

 built in the bottom of the Osprey's nest a 

 nest of the Grackle, containing a very line 

 set of five eggs. Still another surprise 

 awaited me, for in a hollow limb of the same 

 tree I located a nest of White bellied Swal- 

 lows, containing a fine set of seven eggs. 



After packing [these epgs away we start- 

 ed on our way and soon found another an- 

 other nest of the Fish Hawk, containing a 

 nice set of two eggs. The finest set of, the 

 day was found on a strip of Salt meadows, 

 on a rotten Cedar tree, about twenty-five 

 feet from the ground. This set contained 

 three eggs, for fineness of coloring and 

 markings I never saw the. These eggs were 

 so thickly covered with reddish brown' aud 

 timber, that the ground color could not be 

 seen. 



They measured about 2.49 x 1.74 2.48 by 

 1.70 and 2.51 x 1.75 and are now in the col- 

 lection of Harry G. Parker of Chester. 



For our days work we secured 23 Fish 

 Hawks, 67 Green Heron, 3 Spotted Sand- 

 piper 7 White bellied or Tree Swallow, 5 

 Grackle, and 3 eggs of the Fish Crow. 

 Quite a fine lot of eggs, for one day's work, 

 I think. 



Hoping all my readers may have success 

 in the field this season, I am, 

 Oologically Yours, 



C. S. ., Sea Isle City, N. J. 



In Defense of Birds. 



Some collectors seem to boast of the num- 

 der of specinieus they take, mentioning the 

 taking of several hundred eggs of one species 

 as if it were something to be proud of. 

 Thus one person writes of taking fourteen 

 sets, or forty seven eggs of the Acadian Fly- 

 catcher. Another says he collected one 

 hundred and seventy six sets, or more than 

 five hundred and twenty -five eggs of the 

 Arctic Tern, and vaguely hints at taking 

 many Black-crowned Night Heron, o r 

 ' 'Quawk's" eggs. , Still another mentions 

 getting as many of several kinds of Heron's 

 eggs as three could carry, while a fourth, 

 presumably one of the same party, collected 

 forty or fifty sets of Little Blue and Louis- 

 ana Heron. It is a good plan to limit the 

 number of sets taken of each species to five, 

 but one taking only five sets of each species 

 every year in a few years has more eggs 

 than necessary. I collect as many as I can 

 of some kinds, such as Hawks, Crows, Blue 

 Jays etc. and always try to kill the birds, 

 not to identify the eggs, but to put the birds 

 where they can do no more harm. Every 

 collector ought to be able to identify most 

 eggs beyond a reasonable doubt by the nest, 

 eggs, surroundings etc. and if he cannot he 

 has only to spend a little more time and 

 watch the bird when she returns to the nest. 

 One day last summer I found a Chestnut- 

 sided Warbler's nest containing four eggs: 

 as the bird was not on the nest I was 

 sure of their identity and so went away 

 and was gone about an hour. When I re- 

 turned the bird flew off and I saw on one of 

 the eggs what appeared to be a piece of a 

 leaf. On closer examination I saw that the 

 egg was just hatching, and soon a young 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler appeared. I should 

 have felt very badly if I had shot that bird. 



I notice that most eggs taken by "Egg 

 Hogs" are of such kinds as build in colonies 

 or are quite common. They never mention 

 taking numbers of eggs of useless or harmful 

 birds, or finding nests of rarer ones. 

 Perhaps they spend all their time 

 collecting and blowing eggs of such species 

 as Bobin, Catbird, Bluebird, Pewee, Song 



