©ic ^onitg Haturalist 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 16. 



FEBRUARY 7th, 1880. 



Vol. 1 



A FEW HINTS ABOUT 

 EGG COLLECTING. 



By R. J. Attye. 



To collect eggs is one thing, but to 

 form a good collection is another. 

 There is one precept in egg collecting 

 which may be laid down as a good 

 rule, and it is this, to see the bird to 

 which the nest belongs before you 

 take any of the eggs. To this rule, if 

 it may be so termed, there are very 

 many exceptions: for instance, if you 

 find a hedge-sparrow's nest, containing 

 eggs, you do not require to see the 

 bird to prove that it is a hedge-spar- 

 row's nest, and so it is with many 

 other birds. But sometime, booner or 

 later, you will come across a nest con- 

 taining eggs, which you do not recog- 

 nise, and your first impulse will 

 naturally be to possess yourself of all 

 or part of the contents of the nest, and 

 you will think to yourself, I have So 

 and so's book on birds' eggs at home, 

 I shall easily be able to make them 

 out. and besides if I leave them, 

 the chances are somebody else 

 will take them, they are therefore 

 taken home to be compared with the 

 plates of eg^s in your books upon that 

 subject, and the general result of this 



comparison will be, that there are two 

 or three plates in the book which all, 

 more or less, resemble your eggs, you 

 cannot tell for certain what your eggs 

 are. Your only remedy is to ask 

 someone else who is more learned 

 than yourself his opinion, and he may 

 tell you they are such and such birds' 

 eggs, but he is equally likely to tell 

 you that tin y are this bird's or that 

 bird's eggs, he is not <|uite sure which, 

 and so you have to be contented with 

 the knowledge that they are the eggs 

 of one, two, or three birds, but you 

 cannot tell for certain of which bird, 

 and can only put them in your cabinet 

 as doubtful eggs. The best and safest 

 way of finding out what they are (I 

 speak with reference to small birds) 

 is to visit the nest from time to time, 

 and try to get a glimpse at the old 

 birds, taking care not to come too 

 often for fear of the old birds forsak- 

 ing : or lie in ambush and watch, for 

 the old birds are sure to return sooner 

 or later. Some birds forsake very 

 easily if they have not begun to lay, or 

 even when they have begun, as for 

 instance, The Long-tailed Tit, the 

 common Raven, &c, &c, but others 

 are very faithful to eggs or young, as 



