The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1905-06-16
BIG BIRDS, EGGS.

HUNTING BIG BIRDS EGGS.
Those who think deer or mountain
live hunting to be hard work ought
to try hunting hawks nests fol- a
while and get taste of the really
strenuous life. Hawks nests are 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 be-
long the great bald eagles and the
tiny sparrow hawks every one knows.
But their habits are all different, 60
that methods which will result in the
finding of one hawks nest, says the
Los Angeles "Times," will take the
hunter directly by the home of an
other species. The little sparrow
hawk lays its eggs in a hollow tree,
while the eagle builds a bulky nest Of
all sorts Of sticks and places it in the
very tiptop of the highest available
tree.
The hawk hunter-who, by the way
calls himself an "oologist"- takes with
him as much of an outfit AZ would
deer hunter. First of all he wears q
suit of duck or khaki, lennon, or,
preferably, forest green in color, and
instead Of the usual heavy shoes of
hunter, light leather creations which
yield to every movement of the foot
and cling as tenacieusIy to the bark
of trees as would the barefoot. To
aid him in climbing still further, he
carries, pair of the ''climbers" used
by telephone and telegraph inenen.
Added to this is tin box having
straps on each end so that it may be
easily carried, and in which the eggs
are carefully packed in cotton.
Entering the forest or the Cliff. WALL
ed cannon, the modern hawker strikes
out carefully, treading as silently as
any deer hunter, 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 to
the end of May, SO that the collector
must be afield early in order to get
eggs in which incubation has not con.
menced. He scans the tops Of trees
or such likly places as he knows and,
finding some great bulk of sticks
looming darkly against the sun, he
lays down his paraphernalia and as
cends the tree. If the hawk be one
of the large species, know as buzzard
hawks, rap on the trunk Of the tree
will usually send the nesting bird in
screaming fight from her home. With
the smaller hawks this test does not
apply, but the experienced hawker
rarely climbs to a nest from which no
birds can be induced to fly.
Once secured and brought safely
home, the next thing for the 'soOlo.
gist" to do is to preserve the eggs.
This he does by drilling a small hole
in one side of the eggs and removing
the contents by means of a blewpipe.
Instruments are manufactured for this
purpose, and many are of intricate
make for use when the eggs are val
liable and 90 far incubated as to be
unsavable with the unaided blow
pipe. When the eggs are emptied
they are thoroughly dried with hot
air and then laid CAREFUL 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 catalogued, and the
eggs are marked with q known symbol
so that not only may each set be dis.
tinguished from all the others, but
each species may also be known by
glance at the egg and without refer
ence to the printed catalogue.
Many thousands of dollars worth
of hawks and other birds eggs pass
annually through the mails Of this
country. They are sent in exchange
between collectors and many come
from Europe, where they study birds
eggs and the sport of collecting them
have been developed to much grea-
ter extent than here.
A rare merlin, found only in the
nothern part of Canada during the
breeding season, lays an egg worth
SIS to its fortunate finder; and not
only this, but the merlin usually lays
some three to five eggs in every nest
80 that "set" Gas the full number OF
eggs laid by bird is called) may be
worth neat sum to the hawker who
finds it. But it is not for money that
most of these MEN who have taken up
this kind of sport 60 out; many OF
them are Independently rich, others