Evening Star Newspaper, March 3, 1935, Page 49

| THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 3, 1935—PART FOU WASHINGTONIAN IS CHAMPION BIRD-EGG COLLECTOR < By Gene Harry Day. OR more than half a century Edward J. Court of the United States Geological Survey has spent his vacation days in climbing 100-foot trees, scal- Ing precipitous cliffs and sliding down s rope from dizzy and dangerous crags, risking his neck and daring death practically every time he ram- bled to woods or mountains in quest of the treasured eggs of rare birds. This Washingtonian has traveled in excess of 50,000 miles in 25 different States and the District in collecting over 30,000 eggs of some 312 species of North American birds. His collec- tion is now recognized as probably the best possessed by amateur oologist, | ornithologist or field naturalist south | of Philadelphia. In its accumulation the owner has met with enough ad- venture and fascinating experience to v, cram a book from frontispiece to “finis.” | Recital about the hobby horse which | Mr. Court has ridden so assiduously is particularly intriguing in that this collector combatted courageously and measurably conquered an overwhelm- | + ing handicap in his indefatigible hunt- ing after birds’ eggs. The flip of lnte‘ was unjust and nature was cruel when | they dealt out a serious case of in- fantile paralysis to this native Wash- ingtonian during childhood days. The only recompense has been that the| physical affliction was indirectly re- | sponsible for the lad becoming inter- | ested in wild life, and particularly | song birds. It so happened that young Court’s grandfather was a rural| physician who lived in the country | near Beltsville, Md. At the age of 7 the youngster went to live with his grandfather, where the physician could study his case carefully and where the boy would have the run of & wonderfully inviting outdoors. ; OAMING fields and woodlands at| will, the city youngster was fasci- nated by the notes and calls of the song birds. His youthful interest in the avian tenors and sopranos even- tually led him to the trees where they made their nests and raised their young. Despite the handicap of a[ heavy steel brace and a crippled foot | which dragged on the ground, the boy began to climb trees. One day he dis- | covered a cat bird’s nest containing three eggs. Proud as a prince, the lad carried the eggs to his grandfather. who bored small holes in the ends so that the contents drained from the shells. Those eggs were the beginning of the Court collection. A far cry from that day in 1883 when the blowing of eggs was an un- known art to high school training when young Court first began to study zoology and the A, B, C's of oology— the science of eggs—in an amateur way. Fortunately, about that time, he became acquainted with Maj. Charles E. Bendire, then curator of the divi- sion of birds' eggs of the National | Museum. Maj. Bendire recommended | books for study and, to a certain ex- | tent, supervised the tcchnical educa- tion of the youth. That direction | started Court on the right trail. From then to now he has persisted in his studies. Today he rates as one of the best-informed experts on the bird life of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and contiguous States. Despite his 58 birthdays, every week end still finds Mr. Court, with dog, pipe and gun, roaming the woodlands in quest of birds’ eges. When it cames to a question of climbing he's a man- size simulation of a monkey. That author who has nationalized his popu- lar Tarzan tales must have known Mr. Court and used some of the | latter’s thrilling escapades in trees and on ropes as basic material. Armed with his 50-foot collapsible steel ladder, his climbing irons with 51;- inch spurs, his favorite rope—it is 125 feet in length and 1 inch in diameter =and a supplementary rope 6'c feet | long, Court is outfitted to either | climb or descend to perilous perches | where rare birds deposit their eggs in isolated nests. He'll shinny up a 50- foot tree in the same time you would require to walk 250 feet. It is no migtreatment of the truth to say that Ed Court time and again has wormed his way to altitudinous cliffs and tree tops where not one man in the" average 10,000 would dare to venture. | It is in such remote and relatively | secure sites that birds which are almost extinct lay their eggs. it is the rare eggs which the modern + oologist covets most keenly. Which | adds elucidation to why the birdman willingly risks life, limb and future pursuit of happiness in gaining the choicest egg trophies obtainable. Mr. Court has taken eggs from all of the 148 species of birds that nest and breed within a 100-mile radius | of our National Capital. Biological Survey scouts report 308 species and sub-species of birds as either perma- | nent residents or transients in the District, but less than one-half of that total nest here, the balance be- ing migratory flyers; many are sun followers that Summer in the North and Winter in the South. The eggs in the Court collection run the gamut from diminutive eggs of the hum- ming bird, about the size of a navy bean, to those of the Canadian goose— the largest specimen ava.lable in this country, one of the goose eggs being about the size of an ostrich egg. R. COURT now has two of the only four egg sets of bald eagle eggs ever taken by either amateur or professional collector. These birds build huge nests near the tip-top of lofty trees anywhere from 70 to 100 feet above the ground. A typical nest is approximately 6 feet high and 7 feet in diameter. The top of the nest is perfectly flat and in the center of the upper surface a circular space about as big as the circumference of an average water bucket is lined densely with marsh grass. There the eagle deposits the clutch of from twn to three eggs which she ordinarily lays. It is almost as great a rarity to find a nest of four bald eagle eggs as for a modern philatelist to procure one of Uncle Sam’s earliest-known postage stamps. Collector Court obtained 'his first set of four bald eagle eggs last year in Northern Virginia. Later he took a second set of four from a nest in a dead pine tree near Piscataway Creek in Prince Georges County, Md. The following week end, in company with Dick Harlow, newly-appointed foot ball coach at Harvard University, Mr. Court found a third set of four bald eagle eggs near Morgans Gut, Prince Georges County. It is of special in- terest that Court and Harlow have teamed together in collecting eggs ever since the latter assumed charge of foot ball coaching at Western Mary- land < University. Mr. Harlow also began collecting eggs as a boy and now has 35,000 specimens of some 900 North American species and sub- #pecies—the gross results of 32 years of spare-time scouting, cliff-climbing, tree-scaling and rope work. Harlow is especially proud of some three dozen sets of duck hawk eggs which he has gathered from the hinterlands of effete Eastern civilization. Ornithology ‘venerates an old saying to the effect that, “When you have visited six duck hawks' nests, you are living on borrowed time.” - It illustrates better than pages of text the risks and ‘wvicissitudes associated with arrival at % Edzward ]. Court of the Biological Survey Risks His Neck in Dizzy Climbs to Gather Treasured Eggs of Rare Birds— His Collection Is One of the Finest in the Country. =t gather the eggs. Collecting birds’ eggs is not robbing the nests and thus paving the way for the eventual extinction of certain rare species of birds. Amateur col- lectors like Ed Court and Dick Har- | low abide by the iron-clad rule of taking only the first clutches of eggs which the various female birds lay each season. Practically all of the birds whose eggs are thus taken will return to their nests, or build new ones, and deposit second clutches of eggs which ultimately hatch. Thus And | the nests of that species in order to | tne maintanance and multiplication | of the many species and sub-species | are provided for without prohibiting the art of egg-taking. | Uncle Sam, through his official agency, the United State Biological | Survey, dominates birds’ egg collec- | ing in these United States. Special | permits are issued to amateur oologists or ornithologists who desire | to collect either eges, skins or feath- ers for scientific purposes. Those Were the Happy Days “Time and Tide” By Dick Mansfield. ALL-TIME, REMEMBER WHEN TRAFFYC WA EMEMBER \WHAT T MEANT TO D N sof LIGHT ONCA. AVENOE Congress | eggs of either resident or migratory in 1915 enacted a law providing a fine | birds. At present, some 125 permits of $500 against any person who was | are issued annually, but only about caught and convicted of taking the!50 go to those who specialize in col- ) [WITH RAISINS, Above, left: All in a day's work for Edward Court, Washington's champion bird-egg collector. Above, right: The simple task of drilling a hole one-sixty-fourth of an inch in diameter in the shell of a bird egg. Lower, left: Just a few of the bird nests collected by Champion Court. Lower, right: Mr. Court holding the eggs of humming bird and Can- adian goose. These are the smallest and largest eggs in the famous Court collection. lecting eggs. artist, TARTY. NOW YouU ‘CAN Go To GEP WITH 0OT Y002 LooK WHAY QE LATE FOR SOPPER P SI1X O~ CLocK MEANT SiX O'cLoc AND NOY SIX-THIRTY AND “THERE WAS NO OSE ARGUING ABOOLT \T. You WENT 7O BED ON ANEMPTY STOM- ACH ANO LIKED Yool DAD ALL THE ORE. Karl Blath, a Chicago is permitted to collect the skins and feathers of birds as art models. Feathers soon lose their na- ' the first permit issued in 1899 by the 'on that trip, could dig him out. tural colors. However, Mr. Blath renders technical and scientific re- | ports on all skins which he takes to | the United State Biological Survey. | Similarly Court, and Harlow as well | as Dick Rausch, a former foot ball star at Penn State College who fre- United States Biological Survey went to Ed Court. Not all the egg-hunters have been able, like Ed Court, to defy the law of gravitation and go to places where man was never designed to go without | paying the penalty of taking rash | chances. Even Mr. Court was once that really was & minor escapade in view of the manifold perches from which Mr. Court has looked down. ‘The fatality which Court escaped when the bank caved, however, claimed another victim in the person of A. J. Smithwick of Norfolk. Mr. Smithwick also was searching for kingfisher eggs when the ground caved as he ventured too close to the edge of the mound. The egg-hunter was engulfed in the slide of soil and rock and was dead when finally dug from the mass of debris. In making descents from high cliffs, the oologists frequently use double ropes, especially when working alone. W. W. Price, while hunting for rare eggs in the Wauchuga Mountains of Arizona, was strangled to death in one of these double rope tackles while his wife watched the tragedy from the valley floor far below. In some inex- plicable manner or other, one of the ropes became entangled around Mr. Price’s neck. In striving to extricate | himself, he evidently slipped from the cliff and was choked to death. ;Wn.uAM CRISPIAN, yet another ! egg-seeker, fell to death from | the pinnacle of a 200-foot cliff near | Delaware Water Gap. No onlookers | saw that accident. It is entirely spec- | ulation how it happened. Crispian's rope was coiled, he was wearing his climbers and held his shorter rope tightly clenched in his hand when the body was found. Like mountain-climbing, this sport | of procuring duck hawk and other rare eggs is tinted from take-off to completion of the climb or descent with enough thrills to satisfy even the most venturesome. But. accord- ing to enthusiasts like Messrs. Court, Harlow and Rausch, the rewards are worthy of the risks. Dick Harlow, who formerly weighed about 250 pounds, was extremely heavy for rope work, but, nevertheless, he attempted it on various occasions. Once he fell near Synagogue Gap, Pa, or rather he slid down a rope for a dis- tance of some 30 feet. He experi | enced such severe rope burns on his hands as a result of that accident that it took several months for his palms and digits to get in shape again so he could use them. At present Harlow weighs 185 pounds end is in excellent physical condition. Via motor car, canoe and afoot Harlow and Rausch have penetrated | to every remote and isolated section | of Pennsylvania in quest of eggs | Court has accompanied the pair on { many of those trips, while they have reciprocated by going with him to many favorite localities in Maryland Virginia and West Virginia. Once Court and Harlow took nine sets of duck hawk eggs from 11 lo- calities in Northern Pennsylvania in on field trip Mr. Harlow has also made five extensive pil- grimages to Canada. where, in Al- berta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Gaspe Peninsula, the nesting grounds of many of the North Amer- ican birds are located. He used pack horses and Indian guides on those trips and brought many fine speci- mens of uncommon eggs, such as the dowitcher and Canadian goose. Cer- tain pictures which Mr. Harlow made of the nesting habits and eggs of rare Canadian birds are now preserved in the files of the Smithsonian Institu- tion as scientific ex . Mr. Har- low’s egg collection has been increased on several occasions by purchases from other collectors. Among other purchases, Mr. Harlow bought the first blue goose eggs ever taken in the Hudson Bay region from a man named Sooper, the pioneer collector of that It is safe to say that the gg collection is worth upward of $10,000, while the Court collection is measurably more valuable. In the records of ornithology, Mr Court is credited with describing the Treganza blue heron in the Salt Lake City, Utah, region, while he also is the owner of some 1,000 birds' eggs from Java, the only ones of their kind in the United States. He has pre- sented some of these eggs to the Na- tional Museum, whose collection of approximately 80,000 birds’ eggs is now the largest in this country. From Maine to Florida, from Utah to Mex- ico and throughout the eastern one- half of the United States. Mr. Court has journeyed in his egg hunts. Us- ually, every second year he has made extensive trips of from three to five morths. He has spent considerable time on famous Bird Island, off the Texas Coast, where a half million birds nest regularly. It is the headquarters of the only known "colony of white pelicans in this country. He also spent several | months on the historic King Ranch, | in Texas, which covers 1,250,000 acres quently collects with them, also keep | buried alive when a bank caved in on | and is the largest establishment of its | technical record on both eggs and | Calvert Bay, near Point Lookout, | class now under fence in North Amer- | birds which ultimately are turned | where he was hunting for kingfisher |ica. A quarter of a year in the Flor- | over to the Biological Survey for Government records. ERES WHERE TIME AND | <\DE MEANT EVERY- 8 THING, DOWN i THE RWE R WHEN “THE FAMDOUS EXCOR- = SION STEAMER S, W.W, CORCORAN AND JANEMOSELEY OSED TO”Hook-0P" IN A RACE YO GLYMONT, RWER SPRINGS OR LOWER CEDAR PoINT, (GNS OTH TIMES, | CEMEMBER “THIS ONE? REAUTIFOL GLYMONT, SUMMER OF 1872 : VIA {1 THE (ALATIAL STEAMER [ MARY WASHINGION. i FOR RESERVATIONS Geo. Y %'qu(eu., POTOMAC FERRY # CO. Tt ST. WAARF, = S ON FRI.AVG. B~18T: M. Wi | eggs. For about two minutes, Mr. | Court was trapped, until his two EMORY TESTS WHAT D0 You QEMEM@_EQ? AQNSWER TO LAST WEEKS, ROUESTION, HAT WAS THE NAME OF “0oM PAuL" OF BOER WAR FAME 7 ANSWER, 5. PAOL KRUGER. v WEEK WHAT EXCNOE% oN sféme '3, ON TH T~ TH A LOSS or:ssvéu‘bry- OMAC WO LWES 2 | ida Everglades country resulted in splendid takes of eggs. Court was the 1t is worthy of special mention that | brothers, who had accompanied him | first to collect the eggs of the Cape But | Sable black duck and Howells Cape | Sable seaside sparrow in Florida, while he also found 17 colonies of roseate spoonbills along Shark River, near Mud Lake, in the very heart of the Seminole Indian country. Among other interesting takes, he obtained two sets of Florida wild turkey eggs, which are appropriate associates for | the valuable California condor, Caro- | lina parakeet, passenger pigeon, In- dian mound builder, Wilson tern, | Javanese tree ducks, sacries crane, | raven and other outstanding eggs in his collection. | { JNTOLD thousands spend their leisure at the “movies,” others motor, play golf and tennis or go fish- ing for amysement and relaxation, but Ed Court has his fun in the woods. He knows every bird resident or migrant in the District, Virginia and Maryland by its tuneful note or call. In fact, merely by observing the type of timber—whether decidu- ous or coniferous—in a woodland, Mr. Court will tell you immediately what species of birds you will find there, and even in what trees you will find their nests. He knows the woods in which the different species prefer to | breed as well as their favorite foods. He can foretell with amazing accu- | racy when and where certain specles will be found at song as the different birds have favorite perches where they | go regularly in order to practice notes, scales and melodies or whatever you like in avian music. Mr. Court rates the barred or booby owl as the most interesting bird in the District. Tap on the tree trunk and that canny owl will peer around at you and watch your every move with almost human concern. And as fas- cinating as this owl was, one of the birdman’s experiences in the high cliffs near Laceyville, Pa. Using his rope and steel ladder, Mr. Court de- scended to a rocky site 175 feet from the top of a 500-foot crag in quest of | duck hawk eggs after flushing that | particular bird. He could see the nest | about 10 feet away on the rocks, but | could not reach it. Returning to the summit, the egg-hunter got his camera |and returned and photographed the | nest and eggs. Then he fastened his felt hat to an 8-foot pole as an emer- gency scoop and by manipulating that unique tool deftly procured the eggs. Sometimes King Winter serves out & final sting that is disastrous to the early-laying birds. For example, on April 10 of one year, Mr. Court found wood duck eggs frozen and cracked open in the ‘nests near the Nation's