Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-03
HUNTING BIRDS EGGS
HOW COLLECTOR GETS SPECIMENS
AND PRESERVES THEM.
Seeking the Nest of Hawks and Eagles
a Strenuous Exercise-outft
of the Climber.

From the Los Angeles Times.
Those who think deer or mountain lion
hunting to be hard work ought to try
hunting hawks nests for a while 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 families. To them belong the great
bald eagles and the tiny sparrow hawks
every one knows. But their habits are all
different, that methods which will
suit in the finding of one hawks nest, will
take the hunter directly by the home of an
other species. The little sparrow hawk
lays it's eggs in a hollow tree, while the
eagle builds bulky nest Of all sorts of
sticks and places 1t in the very tptop of
the highest available tree.
The hawk hunter-who, by the way,
calls himself an "oologist'-takes with
him as much of an outfit would a deer
hunter. First of all. he wears a suit of
duck or khaki. lemon, or, preferably, for
est green in color, and instead of the usual
heavy shoes of a l. lter, light leather ere
ations which yield to every movement of
the foot and cling as tenaciously to the
bark of trees would the barefoot. To
aid him in climbing stll further, he carries
pair of the Climbers used by telephone
tin box having straps on each end SO that
1t may be easily carried, and in which the
eggs are carefully packed in cotton.
The Modern Hawker.
Entering the forest or the cliff-walled
canon, the modern hawker strikes out care
fully. treading silently as any deer hunt
er, searching the skies frequently with
field glass for the great birds he seeks.
Hawks. eagles and most of the owls nest
IN early spring, from the first Of February
10 tne END OF May. so that the collector
must be af1eld early in order to get eggs In
which incubation has not commenced He
scans the tops of trees or such likely
places as he knows and, finding some great
bulk of sticks looming darkly against the
sun, he lays down his paraphernalia and
ascends the tree. the hawk be one of
the large species known as buzzard hawks
rap on the trunk Of the tree will usually
send the Gpesting bird in screaming flight
from her home. With the smaller hawks
this test does not apply. but the expe-
rfenced hawker rarely climbs to a nest
from which no bird can be induced to fly.
once secured and brought safely home,
the next thing for the ''oologist' to do Is
to preserve the eggs. This he does by
drilling small hole in one side of the egg
and removing the comforts by means of a
DioWplpe. Instruments are manufactured
Tor this purpose. and many are of intricate
make for use when the eggs are valuable
and so far incubated as to be unsavable
with the unaided blowpipe. When the
eggs are emptied of their contents they are
IHoiougHiS urleu with not air and then laid
carefully away in trays of cornmeal to be
come entirely dry n case the air Las LEFT
any drops of moisture, In day or two
they are placed il their final nest of cotton
in the drawer of a cabinet where many
other hawks eggs have preceded them
Each collection is catalogued, 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 tie printed catalogue
Demand for Eggs. ...-
Many thousands Of dollars worth of
hawks and others birds eggs pass annually
through the maiIs of this country. They
are sent in exchange between collectors
living in widely separated parts of Ameri -
and many come from Europe where the
study of birds eggs and the sport of col
lecting them have been developed TO q much
greater extent tran here.
rare merlin found onlv in the northern
part of Canada during .he breeding season
lays an egg worth $15 to its fortunate find
er; and not only this but the merlin
every nest, SO hat set Gas the full
number of eggs laid by bird is called
may be worth neat sum TO the ia Vker
who finds it. But Il is not for money that
most of these men who have taken up this
kind of sport go CIT; many # them are
independently rich. Othtrs are i'll lucrative
positions but they take it W means
OF getting out into the world of the wild,
and bring home the eggs souvenirs Of
their trips. In time this has grown to be a
regular studT, uni. row almost all the
large museums have a DEPARTMENT de-
voted exclusively to the study of TIE eggs
of birds, LIVING ard extinct