The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-12
BIRDS EGGS THAT ARE RARE
DfFFICULTIES ENCOUTERED IN
 COLLECTING

COLLEClINr
 Them-Big Prices Asked for some
 of Them-Eggs of Some Common
 Bird. Which Have Never Been
 Found,
 Many boys are interested in ooOey,
 but a peculiar fact in collecting birds
 eggs is the wide difference i'll value ot
 the eggs of the same family of birds, For instance, there is the great family of hawks Some hawks eggs are worth only few cents each, and some hawks eggs find a. ready sale at S3, $5 and $l each. The eggs of marsh hawk, backed hawk and a copper hawk may be bought for 20 cents each and the broad winged hawks eggs will bring $4 each the world over. The eggs of Sawainsons hawk and the buff breasted hawk is worth $1.50 each.
 The osprey or fsh-hawk (pandion haliaetus) is one of the most interest ing birds Its nest is found in Europe and America, especially along the coast of British Columbia. The birds are dUOul oU lHClltS lOllS anu hofS NliisoH pL an extension of 1-2 feet. The osprey is a waterfowl and lives on fish. It builds nest, often three feet and some times four feet in diameter in some spreading tree close beside body of water, generally an inlet or marshy bay from the sea. The nest is conpos- ed of sticks of wood, branches of small trees, reeds, sea moss and foliage. A more slovenly builder is scarcely known in bird architecture The osprey some times uses the same nest for several seasons, going south in winter and re- turning in summer. Five eggs are al- most always laid at one time The male bird assists in incubation, He supplies the female with food, and often takes turn at setting on the eggs, while Mime Osprey goes in search of her own meal,
 The swallowtail kite was once ob- served in Pennsylvania by Audubon, but these hawks are never seen now adays north of Virginia, and seldom north of Georgia. They are quite com mon in Luoisiana, and are on the coast of Mexico and Lower California, They are usually suspicious of mans ap- proach They are wonderful flyers. They feed on the wing, and chase in- sects in the air for hours without alighting With the exception of the frigate bird, nothing in feathers lives so much on the wing as the swalloWtail kite hawk. Its nest is always among the foliage of a tall tree, remote from any human habitation or haunts of oth- CT birds. They go to bed late in the evening, and are among the earliest to take wing when dawn comes, The swallowtail kites eggs are generally four in number, of greenish white color, with few irregular spots ot dark brown at the lower end. They are very valuable now, $9O being paid for two at a sale not long since.
 The egg of the golden eagle is also becoming valuable. A dozen years ago these eggs could be bought in London and New York for $S apiece. Two years ago several golden eagle eggs were sold at auction in San Francisco for SS2 each. The rocks and crags of the hills of the little island off tine coast of California were said to have been the eyries of thousands of golden eagles half a cen- tury ago. but scarcely one of the birds now remains to deck appropriately the landscape The hunter of golden eagles eggs earn every penny there is in the seemingly large prices they command In the first place, even the man who goes after golden eagles eggs may not be able to locate nest of eggs for months or even several years, In the second place, the eyrie of the golden eagle is placed on the face of some cliff | or towering crag. The nest is made on |
 cl1 cy,n of1a rlad | stumped tree that grows from cleft in | rock Almost invariably the nest is in | a place inaccessible without extraordin- | ary means and great hazard of human | life. The eggs are generally white, | with pale brown or purplish blotches, and the size of a common goose egg. Oologists believe that the golden eagle will be extinct in North America by the end of another generation.
 The egsg of some common birds of the present day have never been found. There Is the robin snipe; it's eggs have never been seen. An English oologist | kept man going up and down the coast of Labrador for weeks purposely to get a robin snipe's egg. But 1t was in vain. The bird is known by thou sands of people, but it breeds so far north and so remote from any civiliza- tion that no scientific observer can ever get to it's nest ere the young are matched and have taken to wing. The frigate bird that is so commonly seen at sea on the Pacific and off the West Indies, is such a solitary bird, and is so seldom in it's nest during the hours of daylight, that its egg is rare. It seems strange, but the eggs of so well known a bird as the sandpiper have never been 'ound, and are almost priceless.-Boston Herald.