V\  V\  (  •  ;  i 
2. 
The  picture  of  the  Museum,  takes  me  back  to 
the  time  of  my  first  visit  there.  How  well  I 
remember  coming  up  the  walk  and.  wondering  if  the 
big  man  who  knew  all  about  birds  was  going  to 
me 
give  tiiaa  the  glad  hand  of  fellowship  or  be  amused 
at  my  puny  scientific  excursions.  Your  cordial 
'  '  »  '  'j-  -  •  -  •  -  # 
smile  was  most  reassuring  and  you  took  my  point 
of  view  so  understanding^  that  I  quickly  felt 
as  if  I  had  always  known  you. 
I  think  I  could  now,  after  all  this  time, 
catalogue  the  contents  of  my  11  little  box"  thc*t 
you  have  so  often  refered  to.  There  was  the  usual 
run  of  the  ordinary  and  easily  collected  eggs  but. 
there  were  two  sets  that  I  prized  most  highly. 
Four  eggs  of  the  Least  Flycatcher  and  six  of  the 
Meadow  Lard.  I  recall  that  both  were  found  by 
accident  and  that  two  of  the  Flycatchers  eggs 
3 
were  stolen  from  me  by  another  youthful  collector. 
X  found  that  he  was  keeping  them  in  a  jewelry 
box  in  his  desk  at  school.  One  day  I  stayed  afte 
after  session,  ostensibly  helping  the  teacher  who 
probably  was  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  understand  my 
sudden  spasm  of  virtue.  When  the  chance  offered 
I  promptly  annexed  that  jwwelry  box  from  the 
other  fellowts  desk  and  to  this  day,  he  does  not 
know  where  the  eggs  went. 
I  had  another  set  of  Kingfisher's  eggs,  so 
round  and  white.  I  think  there  were  nine.  What 
a  job  I  did  have  digging  out  that  nest.  The  hole 
was  of  course,  at  the  top  of  a  sand  bank  in  a 
railroad  cut  and  I  dug  in  with  a  stick  as  far  as 
my  arm  would  reach  and  still  could  not  touch 
the  end.  After  more  digging  I  reached  in  again 
and  was  much  startled  to  find  that  the  old  lady 
was  at  home.  She  grapped  one  of  my  fingers  in 
that  lusty  beak  of  hers  and  gave  it  a  sharp  pinch. 
One  of  my  chums  was  along  and  after  trying  to 
drive  her  out  by  stamping  on  the  bank  above  the 
nest,  whfcch  failed  to  budge  her,  he  suggested 
that  I  stick  my  hand  in  again  and  when  he 
grabbed  the  finger,  I  was  to  close-up  on  her  bill 
and  drag  her  out,  I  tried  it  but  eh  old  lady 
got  me  by  the  skin  on  the  back  of  the  hand  and 
it  hurt  like  fury.  By  this  time  I  had  dislodged 
a  lot  of  loose  sand  where  I  was  standing  and  as  I 
again  went  into  the  hole  Mrs.  K,  flew  out,  almost, 
striking  me  in  the  face  and  giving  such  a 
startling  rattle  that  I  slipped  and  tumbled  down 
the  bank,  clear  to  the  bottom.  Finally ,  I  reached 
the  turn  at  the  end  of  the  hole  and  captured  my 
prize.  I  would  not  have  taken  a  ten  dollar  bill 
for  -those  eggs  and  ten  dollars  was  a  fortune  oo  me 
then . 
