34 



THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY 



To Collectors. 



Having noticed an article appearing in sev- 

 eral of the leading O. and O. papers, signed 

 by an Iowa party, as having a certain article 

 for exchange to remove embreyo in any 

 stage of development, from eggs. I would 

 like to state through the columns of this val- 

 uable paper, that the article in question is 

 only Caustic Potash, disolved in water, which 

 forms a solution, and destroys all animal 

 matter in the egg. It is inserted by means 

 of blowpipe or syringe, and left to stand a 

 short time, frequently washing out and ad- 

 ding solution until all embryo is disappeared 

 the potash having no effect whatever upon 

 the shell. Great care should be taken to 

 allow none of the solution to get upon the 

 hands or in the mouth, as it has properties 

 like lye, only less dangerous to handle. I 

 have seen above used successfully for sev- 

 eral seasons, and used it with success my 

 self last season, and expect to again this 

 season. I remain yours Oologically, 



F. Leon Englebert. 



Des Moines, Iowa. 



The Purple Finch. 



{JJa,rpodacus purpureas'] . 



This bird breeds regularly in this local 

 ity, but is more abundant further east. 



One morning in the spring of 1890, with 

 a companion I was out in the woods. 

 After a while we happened to come to the 

 top of a large hill, the sides of which were 

 covered with a thick growth of young 

 firs. There were a great many Sparrows, 

 Robins etc., about and we sat down to 

 watch them. Pretty soon we saw abird, 

 \vlii<di looked very much like a song Spar 

 row, fly into the top of a fir, about thirty 

 feet high, with a straw in her mouth, and 

 a, moment later her mate came and 

 perched himself on the topmost twig of 

 the tree. I noticed that he had a red 

 head and therefore I knew the bird was a 

 Finch of some kind. 



Knowing that the nest in the tree was 

 not fully built, we proceeded on down the 

 hill and began watching some other trees 

 and were soon rewarded by seeing an- 

 other female with nest material enter one 

 of them, we then went home. About 

 three days afterwards we visited these 

 nests and found that each contained two 

 eggs which were almost counterparts of 

 the Chirpping Sparrow's eggs except as 

 to size. We waited three days longer in 

 hopes of getting a set of five eggs from 

 one of the nests, but we had no such 

 good luck. Going to them on the third 

 day, we found a very handsome set of 

 four in one nest, but the other was empty. 

 Whether some one else had got them or 

 the birds had distroyed them we never 

 found out. The nest was built of dry 

 grass and lined with horse-hair and was 

 situated about twenty-five feet from the 

 ground in a thick bushy fir so that it 

 could not be seen. This tree is used 

 almost invariably by the birds in nesting. 

 The eggs are greenish blue and have 

 large blotches of brown about the larger 

 end which form sort of a wreath. They 

 average about 84 x 65. 



OOLOfilST. 



Got it Bad. 



Mr. C. H. Prince, Dear Sir: 



That John L. Swenson has let me in for 

 $90.00 worth of eggs. I hear he has robbed 

 others as well as myself. He is a designing 

 impostor and should be put in jail, — as he is 

 unfit to breath the same atmosphere as ordi- 

 nary mortals. Collectors should be on the 

 lookout for him as he may turn up in another 

 locality, and by assuming another name, get 

 collectors to send him specimens. He offers 

 rare species in exchange. From his style of 

 writing he is evidently not a boy and un- 

 worthy the name of man. 



Walter Raine, 



Toronto, Canada. 



Collectors there are others in the field. 

 Beware who you^deal with. — "Ed." 



