156 



THE OOLOGIST. 



John S. Cairnes gives the following: 

 "Weaverville, May 30, 1891. Nest 

 twenty feet from the ground in small 

 willow tree. 4 eggs with incubation 

 begun." 



The remainder of Mr. Bostain's art- 

 icle bears out what I have already 

 written. 



R. Pearce Smithwick. 



Nests of American Dipper. 



Stanley G. Jewett. 



While on a fishing trip near Mt. 

 Adams, Wash., I found five nests of 

 the American Dipper, cinclus mexi- 

 canus, all of which were placed on the 

 central stringer under bridges direct- 

 ly over the water ranging from eight 

 to fifteen feet high. The bridges were 

 on well traveled roads, where teams 

 passed hourly every day. Have any 

 of the western readers found nests of 

 this bird in similar places? 



"A Fair Exchange is no Robbery." An 

 unfair one is. ? ? ? 



There are some collectors who think 

 it is smart to palm off a fictitious set 

 of eggs to an inexperienced person for 

 something of unequal value. 



There may be some advantage in 

 these kind of trades at the time but 

 sooner or later they will be found out. 



About five years ago I traded some 

 old copper pennies for one-three Broad- 

 winged Hawk. One of my friends 

 who collected a set of 343 some time 

 afterwards pronounced my set a fraud. 



I could not believe that I was cheat- 

 ed until I got a genuine set of Broad- 

 wing myself, then I could see that my 

 set was not Broad-wing but a nice set 

 of Red-shouldered Hawk. 



The set came from Mr. F. A. Sin- 

 clair of Skeanettles, N. Y. and when I 

 was sure it was not Broad-wing I wrote 

 him to that effect. 



He insisted the set was genuine, de- 

 clared he had handled a great many 



eggs of all the Hawks and I was mis- 

 taken. 



The set was collected by S. Washing- 

 ton West, Apr. 19, 1894 in Saratoga 

 county, N. Y., locality Ballston, eggs 

 fresh, nest made of sticks, lined with 

 moss and feathers. From the collec- 

 tion of A. S. Brower. 



I have 9 sets of Red-shouldered and 

 two sets of Broad-wing in my collec- 

 tion now and certainly know what I 

 am talking about when I say the set 

 is not Broad-wing. 



It is very easy for a young collector 

 to be humbugged. 



When I was a boy I collected singles 

 in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and 

 sent them to Mr. Justice in Philadel- 

 phia for exchange. He always sent 

 me what he choose and at the time I 

 was perfectly satisfied. 



After I commenced to collect in sets 

 and acquire more knowledge I found 

 out that Mr. Justice had sent me Cara- 

 cara for Goshawk, Red-breasted for 

 Hooded Merganser. Some kind of 

 spotted egg for Anhinga, and many 

 more that were fictitious and mislead- 

 ing to a young collector. 



Mr. Justice may have been mistaken 

 or the eggs may have been marked 

 wrong by some one else, at any rate he 

 was willing to part with them and 

 send them to me. 



Experience is the best teacher they 

 say but sometime it is expensive. 

 E.J. Darlington, 



Publications Received. 



Journal of Maine, Orn. Soc, Vol. 

 VII, No. 3. 



Amateur Naturalist, Vol. 2, No. 5. 



"Condor," Vol. VII, No. 5. 



American Botanist, Vol. 9, No. 3. 



Ameriean Ornithology, Vol. V, No. 

 10. 



Photographic Times, Vol. XXXVII, 

 Nos. 9-10. 



Nature Study, Vol. XIV, No. 10. 



