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THE OOLOGIST. 



Sparrow, Herons and Terns. As for myself 

 I should be ashamed to sho\r twenty or 

 thirty sets of Pewee's eggs, or five or six 

 sets of Quail's eggs, of from fifteen to twenty 

 each. I once knew of a nest of Quail which 

 contained twenty two eggs. Some persons 

 would have taken it just because it was a 

 large set, but I do not want a lot of eggs 

 in my collection which are just alike. I have 

 but two American Quail's eggs, which are 

 all I want. 



Now I do not want anyone to be offended 

 by these remarks, for I merely advocate col- 

 lecting more varities of eggs, rather than so 

 many of one variety, and identifying eggs 

 by seeing the bird, not by needlessly killing 

 her. I cannot see why any collector should 

 not be satisfied with at most, three or four 

 sets of each kind, and perhaps two or three 

 sets of some kinds that vary greatly. If 

 every person should take all the eggs he 

 found, how long would we have any birds 

 to lay eggs? While I like to see a person 

 interested in birds, I think that the more 

 he studies them the more he should learn to 

 love and defend them. 



C. W. E., Norwood, Mass. 



Two Days Field. Work in 

 "Waukesha Co., Wis. 



Ed. Oologist : — I thought I would tell you 

 about two collecting trips I made this 

 year, so here goes. As May 30th was Dec- 

 oration day, we had a holiday ; so I thought 

 it would be a good time for collecting. 

 Pewaukee Lake is six miles long and about 

 one mile wide. The lower portion contains 

 some large bogs, covered with tall grass; 

 just the place for Rails. A friend and I 

 started out about 10 o'clock and after 

 rowing about half an hour, came to the 

 first bog. "We had on rubber boots, so 

 we jumped onto the bog taking an oar 

 along so that if we should step into a hole we 

 would not go clear through. After search- 

 ing for half an hour and finding nothing 

 but two sets of Swamp Sprrrows, and a lot 

 of Red-winged Blackbirds eggs (which we 



did not take), we went to a larger bog about 

 a quarter of a mile away. Here we found 

 nothing at first and were just going away 

 when I saw something which made me yell : 

 It was an American Bittern sitting on her 

 nest. We walked right up to her but she 

 would not leave her nest, so I lifted her 

 off with an oar, and then she flew a short 

 distance and lit again. The nest, which 

 contained 5 drab eggs, was made of pieces 

 of dead flags, and was situated on 

 the ground at the foot of some high grass. 

 We then left that bog and rowed to another 

 where we found a fine set of seven Carolina 

 Rails. When we found the set, there was 

 no bird in sight. The nest was built of 

 grass and placed a little way from the 

 ground in a clump of reeds. We left that 

 bog and went over into a bay on the west 

 side of the lake, which was filled up with 

 cat-tail flags. We had gone but a short 

 distance when our boat ran into and upset 

 a Least Bittern's nest. It contained two 

 eggs which luckily were not broken. We 

 went a little further and found a great 

 many nests, (all containing eggs of the 

 Yellow - headed Blackbird), which are 

 somewhat rare in this region. Soon we saw 

 a bird slip out of a bunch of grass, and on 

 going to look, there lay seven Gallinule 

 eggs in a slight nest, fastened to the grass. 

 We were about to start for home when I 

 spied a bird slide into the water from what 

 we thought a piece of bog, but which prov- 

 ed to be a Thick-billed Grebe's nest, con- 

 taining seven eggs. The nest was a mass of 

 mud and reeds, with a slight depression on 

 top for the eggs. It floated on the water, 

 being loosely attached to the flags around, 

 while we were examining the. nest, it began 

 to rain, so we made a bee-line for home 

 with a great many new eggs, and much 

 satisfaction with our trip by water. 



The next trip was on June 8th. This 

 time I went alone and by land. I went 

 south of here about two miles to a large 

 marsh about 4 miles long 2 wide. At this 

 season it is quite dry. I walked straight 

 out across it and round a set of 4 eggs of 

 Wilson's Phalarope, which are not uncom- 

 mon here. They are very hard to find as 



