Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-24
EGGS AND NESTS.
The Biological Collection ut the National
Museum ut Washington.

10 count and measure forty-two
thousand eggs and enter a record of
each one, is not task one would take
up for amusement. A young lady.
sitting in one of the smaller rooms add
joining the exhibition halls of the Ma
tional Museum, was engaged on such a
/ seemingly endless task when q Star re-
porter looked into her retreat the other
day. The young lady was Miss H. s.
Perkins, the assistant to Captain BEN
dite, curator of the section of Zoology.
The term Zoology is adopted by scientists
because it does not offer so many pegs
to hang puns upon as the plain Saxon
word, egg, and the oologist engaged
in his absorbing work can labor on un-
disturbed by the distractions of pun
sters. When the eggs in the collection
at the National Museum were counted
last January. Miss Perkins told the re-
porter. the number was found to be
40,072. Now she thought there were
$4,000 or 4S, 900 in the collection. These
are packed away in trays that fill cases
placed along the walls of the room.
Each tray is prepared with strips of
cotton batting. so arranged that each
egg has its own little apartment with
soft walls of cotton.
One who loves beautiful color could
find world of pleasure in looking
through these trays. Many of the eggs
are beautifully marked or spotted,
Others are uniform in color. but of ex-
quisite shades, unrivaled by art. In
one case are number of eggs from
South America which have a bright
polish, as if enameled or glazed. Deli
cate blues and pinks and green prevail.
Some of these colors fade upon expo
sure to light. Other eggs, the oOlogist
said, would lose their beautiful luster
upon being handled. The moisture of
the hand will affect them. 1t is really
not collection of eggs. but of shells:
The collector in the field before send
ing the trophies of his prowess to the
museum prepares the egg by blowing
them. Captain Bendite, the curator of
the section. has prepared brief
pamphlet containing instructions to
collectors, which has been issued by
the National Museum. This pamphlet
gives directions for blowing eggs A
simple blow pipe and drill is all that
is required. Many collectors use very
fine glass points attached to rubber
bulb. Others use an instrument manu-.
featured especially for the purpose. A
small hole is drilled in the center of
one side of the egg and the contents are
removed by blowing through this. The
egg hunter or bird hunter frequently
make perilous excursions in search of
nests. Many birds build their nests in
almost inaccessible places, and to obtain
the eggs involves great difficulty and
danger. In the collection at the museum
is trayful of eggs of the golden eagle.
which Miss Perkins said are rated in the
egg collectors catalogue as worth five
dollars apiece. The eggs get their
value from the difficulty of capturing the
nests of these eagles. The eggs in the
collection vary in size from that of the
tiniest hunming bird to the egg of the
giant bird whose remains are found in
Madagascar. The latter bird is repre-
sented by the cast of a fossil egg. The
collection includes many curious things,
which have an interest even to the un-
scientific observer. There are a number
of specimens of eccentric eggs laid by
eccentric hens, which have taken very
StIduSt shapes, GWlSItu anu tui Hcu iihC
crOOked-neck squashes.
There is a little egg of tiny hum
ming bird lying in diminutive nest.
The humming bird that made the nest
and laid the egg is the smallest bird in
the world. Miss Perkins measured the
egg while the Star reporter was there.
Eggs are measured by means of 4 little
guage having movable arms and have
to be handled very carefully. The
measurements expressed in inches. The
little egg was found to have 4 length
long diameter of 80 inch. and
short diameter of LIS inch. The nest
was 1.20 inch across one way and O.92
the other. Some OF the sea bird eggs
are notified very peculiarly. Eggs of the
guillemot, from the Pacific coast, have
odd figures all over them, some of
them assuming funny shapes of
beasts, or birds, as though they
had been rudely decorated. These
eggs. which are nearly twice
as large as ordinary hens eggs, are
sold in the market in San Francisco,
and are considered to be much more
delicate in flavor than the eggs of do
mestic fowl. Nearly all birds eggs are
edible, said naturalist, at the mu-
scum. Some are very strong. rank and
disagreeable to the taste, and others
much more palatable than hens eggs.
He had, he said, subsisted almost en-
tirely upon gulls' eggs for weeks.
Grinning on shelf among curious
collection of birds nests is human
skull. A sparrow had built its nest in
the cranial cavity and found it a very
pleasant home, the sockets of the eyes
making two little doors. The skull
was sent to the museum and the top of
it has been sawed off so as to show the
nest inside. A physician in Maryland
put the skull i'm tree just to see
whether the birds would find out what
a fine little bird house it would make,
and sure enough sparrow soon took
possession and raised family in it.
An egg which is great curiosity is
one which it is calculated was laid one
years ago. 1t is the petrified
egg of a guano bird found in guano
bed forty feet from the surface. Peru
Wan scientists estimate that it required
one thousand years to lay the deposit
underneath which the egg was buried.
ID IL. ~