THE OOLOGIST. 



107 



addled egg, of course, he saved and 

 so the ice was broken. 



In 1901, being fortified with some 

 experience, Crispin went back to his 

 old hunting grounds again, and this 

 time after climbing a tree over 100 

 feet from the ground, secured 1-2. 

 He rode his bicycle some 30 miles or 

 more to my house and stayed all 

 night. After supper he went to the 

 bathroom to blow the eggs and to 

 hasten the proceeding turned on the 

 hot water spigot and allowed the wa- 

 ter to run into the hole. 



The water after running a while got 

 very hot and the consequence was it 

 cracked the egg. Being put out over 

 the loss of one egg made him careless 

 with the other and he broke that one 

 with too much pressure with the 

 blower. Thus passed away what should 

 have been a fine set of the Bald Ea- 

 gle. 



In 1902 and 1903 we did nothing 

 towards securing their eggs, but 1904 

 found us after them again in the 

 same locality. This time we found a 

 new nest, and while we were there 

 at the right time, the birds did not 

 lay. 



In 1905, a friend of ours found a 

 fine set of two in New Jersey on Mar. 

 5th, and about a month afterwards 

 Mr. Crispin took one more egg from 

 the same nest. 



This year we made our plans early 

 by getting acquainted with a young 

 nian in Delaware who informed us 

 that he knew where some Eagles nest- 

 de and when the time came he would 

 make an effort to secure the eggs. 



After considerable correspondence 

 recently, I was informed that two 

 nests were located and when the 

 birds were done laying, the eggs 

 would be taken. 



A letter dated Feb. 27th, was re- 

 ceived in which our young man stat- 

 ed he climbed one tree yesterday and 

 secured three eggs. The other one 



is terribly high and large and I can- 

 not climb it. 



This information was sent to Cris- 

 pin by me and he immediately made 

 preparations to go after the second 

 set. On March the 2nd, he started 

 with climbers and a camera to look 

 at this terrible tree. 



It was an old gum, about three feet 

 in diameter, 60 feet to the first limb 

 and the bark hung in torn strips that 

 tore loose when the climbers were 

 inserted. 



The nest was 80 feet from the 

 ground and to master such a tree 

 was an effort that called for all the 

 best qualities of an expert climber. 

 Crispin has never been known to say 

 no, so he secured a rope halter to use 

 as a girdle and started for the nest. 



When he peeped over the edge of 

 the nest his eyes opened wide with 

 amazement and his heart beat with 

 joy, for he saw a fine set of 3 eggs. 

 After taking a photograph of the set 

 in the nest he lowered the eggs to 

 the ground and started to descend the 

 tree. When 70 feet from the ground 

 his gold watch parted from the chain 

 and fell, but strange to say, was not 

 hurt in the least, as it struck the 

 ground on its edge and sank into the 

 soft earth. 



My set of three are larger than 

 Crispin's and they measure 2.90 x 2.28, 

 2.88 x 2.30, 2.85 x 2.25. Crispin's aver- 

 age about 2.60 2.08. One peculiar- 

 ity about the Bald Eagles we found 

 was that if their nest is looked into 

 before they lay. they resent the in- 

 trusion and desert the nest. 



Two sets of three of the Bald Eagle 

 from our locality and the same year 

 is something to be proud of and we 

 feel well paid for the worry and time 

 we have spent in trying to secure 

 their eggs. 



E. J. DARLINGTON. 



Wilmington, Del. 



