The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1905-11-17
HUNTING BIG EGGS.
HOW THE COLLECTOR GETS AND
PRESERVES HIS SPECIMENS.
It Is Necessary to Have Outfits as
Extensive rs Those of Hunters
of Big Game--Some Par
ticulars.


of Big Game--Some Par
ticulars.
Those who think deer or mountain
lion hunting TO be hard work ought 10
try hunting hawks nests for awhile
and get taste of the really strenuous
life Hawks nest all over the world,
from; the equator to the far north: they
make up one OF the largest and most
widely known of any of the bird IAN
,lies To them belong the great bald
eagles and the tiny sparrow hawks
everyone knows. But their habits are
oil different. so that methods which
will result In the finding Of one hawks
s,st SAYS the Los Angeles Times, VIII
take the hunter directly by the nome
of another species. The little sparro"
hawk lays It's eggs in hollow tree,
while the eagle bdilds a bulky nest OF
all sorts Of sticks and places 1t In the
very uptop of the highest aVailaple
tree.
The hawk hunter-who, by the way
calls himself an "ooloGist takes with
him as much Of an outtii as wouin a
deer hunter. First of all, he wears n
suit Of duck or khaki, lemon, or, prefer
ably, forest green in color, and instead
of the usual heavy shoes OF a hunter
light leather creations which yield 10
every movement of the foot and cling
as tenaciopsly to the bark Of trees as
would the barefoot TO aid him In
climbing still further, he carries a
pair of the climbers used by telo-
phone and telegraph lincmen Added
to this IL Il tin box having straps on
each end 50 that It may be easily car
rIed. and IN which the eggs are care
fully packed IN cotton,
Entering the forest or the cliff walled
canyon. he modern hawker strikes out
carefully. ,rcadinE as silently as any
deer hunter, searching the skies fire.
quently with field glass for the great
birds he seeks. Hawks, eagles and
most of the owls ucst In early spring
from the fret Of February to the end
OF May. go that the collector must be
aheld early In order to get eggs In
which incubation has not commenced,
Tie scans the tops ~ trees or such
likely places n hc knows and, finding
some great bulk Of sticks looming
darkly against the sun, he lays down
his paraphernalia aud ascends the tree.
II the hawk be one of the large species
known as bu2zard hawks. a rap or the
trunk Of the tree will usually send the
nesting bird in screaming flight from
her home. With the smaller hawks
this test does not apply but the ex.
pericnced hawkcr rarely climbs to q
nest from which no bird can be in
duced to fly.
once secured and brought safely
home, the next thing for the "OOlogst
Ia do Is to preserve the eggs. This he
docs by drilling a small hole In one
side OF the egg and removing the con
tents by means Of a blowpipe. lnstru.
ments are manufactured for this pur,
pose and many are OF intricate make
for use when the eggs are valuable
able with the unaidcd blowpipe
When the eggs are emptied of their
contents, they are thoroughly dried
with hot air and then laid carefully
away In trays Of cornmeal TO become
entirely dry In case the air has left
any drops Of moisture. In day or
two they are placed in their final nest
of cotton In the drawer of cabinet
where many other hawks eggs have
preceded them. Each collection Is cat.
alogued, and the eggs are marked with
known symbol. so that not only may
each set be distinguished from all the
others, but each species may also be
known by a glance at the egg and
without reference to the printed cata.
logue. - D.! .
Many thousands of dollars worth Of
hawks and other birds eggs pass an
nually through the mails of this coun.
try. They are sent in exchange be,
tween collectors living in widely sep
arated parts of America. and many
come from Europe, whore the study OF
birds eggs and he sport Of collecting
them have been developed to much
greater extent than here.
A rare merlin found only In the
northern part Of Canada during the
breeding season lays an egg worth sla
to its fortunate finder; and not only
this, but the merlin usually lays some
three TO five eggs In every nest, 80
that a set" las the full number ol
et 70 laid by g.rd Is called may bs
W. nth a neat sum TO the hawker who
finds IT, But II is not for money tina,
most Of these men who have taken III
this kind of sport go out; many oil
them are independently rich, other.
are In lucrative positions, but they
take IT up as means OF getting Out
into the world of the wild, and brlne
home the eggs as souvenirs Of thei,
trips. In time this has grown to be
a regular study, until now almost all
the large museums have a department,
devoted exclusively to the study Of tho
eggs OF birds. living and extinct.