| Show EXPENSIVE EGGS baro specimens that command fabulous Fabulo ua price a the collecting of bardi ESS una become ol 01 leoel of wealth and students of science it is not generally known that among the aads tads of the day the collecting of birds eggs one that interests the cultured and wealthy and one that may be very expensively indulged in while it affords u mild recreation to thousands of individuals ut moderate means the scientific collection of birds eggs baa in fact become a fascinating avocation and rightly studied a pursuit to which the systematic baudy of birds their biology and the laws governing their evolution is largely indebted as acknowledged by no less an authority than arof huxley himself who showed that a study of the markings and shape of the eggs of the species aided materially in establishing the close relationship of tho Limico ioe plovers and the lavioe gulls and terns aside from its scientific value tho collecting of birds eggs entices the en thusia dt by the marvelous diversity in size and markings of the agga egga fitly painted by nature herself to adorn the richest dubinet cu binet the raptor cs or birds of prey are a favorite family with zoologists largely from the endurance daring and nerve requisite in scaling cliffs and lofty trees to secure their eggs which are often as in the case of the golden eagle beautifully marked thi grand eagle eel dom attacks the plunderer of its eggs though it is unsafe to anger the ma estic bird when its neat contains young the eggs are two and sometimes three large and chow great variation in the markings of purple lavender and rich brown blotched or suffused over the surface of the shell in california where these eagles are most numerous a lofty live oak tree is frequently elected as a site for the huge nest of clicks with ita lining of spanish moss used by the birds year after year for generations A ledge on a cliff is also n common resting place and out in wy oming an eagle has found a perfectly hate place to raise its young on the flat top of a giant rock tho nest is in plain view but la inaccessible the california condor a bird with a sweep of wing ten feet from tip to tip and the larget bird of night in the world not excepting the great andes condor ip a species of much interest to a from the extreme rarity and value of its eggs this condor is becoming extinct like the great auk and as if ishad a forecast of its impending do om it resorts to the most precipitous cip itous mountain where on bome craggy and inaccessible steep it deposits ita single egg of pale greenish blue in a cave but seven eggs are known in collections and the value of one considering the probability of the great birds early extinction is very great more than has been paid tor a single egg of the great auk of which there are 63 eggs in existence america can claim two one at vassar college and one at the academy of natural sciences in philadelphia the latter collection held for many years among the rarities an egg of the california condor but it mysteriously disappeared a few years ago and it is supposed some kleptomaniac thought it no sin to transfer the treasure to his own collection where he is holding it for arise in price information as to the nesting habits of the california condor has been exceedingly cee limited and until when an egg was taken for U IL taylor editor of the no eggs had been taken since the the taking of this agg showed the nesting time to be early in may and that but one egg is laid he collector secured the great agg after a hazardous climb down a rope which he had fastened to a bush on the bluff above the condors egg was found lying in a hollow in the cave with a few feathers for a nest the condors had been frightened off by the discharge of the collectors collect orB gun and fortunately did not return while he was in the cave he had not come prepared to carry any eggs but taking off his shirt he wrapped i be egg in it and lowered it to the bottom of the cliff himself following it safely air walter E bryant for many years curator of birds in the california academy of sciences showed what a collector may endure for science on one of liis expeditions to lower california guadaloupe idland lying miles off the coast of lower california was almost an unknown territory to bird actu dents and he determined to visit it the island is uninhabited and vessels do not usually pass near it BO it was kome time before he managed to secure passage on a freight bc hooner they landed him with a supply of provisions agreeing to return for him in a week the week passed but the schooner came not and mr bryant found him belt marooned maruo ned he had collected a large lot of rare specimens and discovered new species of birds from ici er having seen the face of man many of alie birds could be caught by band delightful as the location aas for the enthusiastic ornithologist the vanished supply of provisions made his position on a loncey island unenviable he was reduced to dining on shellfish and mich birds as he could secure and did not escape to the mainland until three weeks afterward when the schooner returned to the island and took off the and his specimens the nests of nearly all birds arc most interesting interest ins and in them the finds much to aoudy and admire from the tiny lichen covered downy home of I 1 hot fairy tho humming bird to the gigantic structure of the tish hawk or osprey one of the mol curious of nests ia that of the california bush tit cunningly woven of niuta down and lichen it ie like a long purse with a tiny round entrance hole near the top for the bird which is not one tenth as large ax it wonderful nest san franciaco examine |
