PREFACE. 



In bringing to an end and giving' a table of contents and index to the third volume of the 

 OspREV, apologies and explanations are in order. 



The first number of the volume had been issued for some time by the former Osprey Com- 

 pany before the present proprietors entertained any idea of purchase, and negotiations were not 

 concluded till considerable correspondence had been exchanged between the contracting parties. 

 Necessarily, therefore, the issue of the succeeding parts was much delayed and the October 

 number did not appear until December 16th. The interval of time between the month for which 

 the magazine was due and that when it was published was much diminished with succeeding 

 numbers, but never entirely obliterated. The causes of delay need not be detailed: we will only 

 express our regret that they should have resulted in the delay. So far as the editors are concerned, 

 they can and will be on time. Delay is chiefly occasioned by tardiness in reading and returning 

 proof, difficulty in getting illustrations when promised, and postponement by printers, especially 

 when proofs are not returned on time. 



For the new (fourth) volume stricter control will be exercised than was feasible with the present 

 and the numbers will be published mostly on the days when they are due — the ISth of each month. 

 The middle of the month rather than the first has been determined on so that the magazine may 

 appear at a time of maximum rest from the general magazines, and because other journals of an 

 analogous character — for example, The Zoologist of London — appear at a corresponding time. If 

 for any reason, a delay of two or three days should occur, we would be in the fashion — our long 

 established and ably conducted contemporaries, the Auk and the American Naturalist having set 

 the example. 



If the present Osprey Company have to admit culpability in respect to time, they need not apo- 

 logize as to matter. In continuing the magazine, they tacitly assumed to do no more than their 

 predecessors. They have, nevertheless, done much more than they were thus called upon to do. 

 The previous volume of the Osprey comprised only 144 pages including frontispieces and other 

 plates. The present volume extends to 172 pages and includes S additional plates, (representing 

 frontispieces). The second volume (like the first) contained no table of contents or other pre- 

 liminary matter except the title page. 



The third speaks for itself. Special fonts of letters have been purchased for the sole use of 

 the Osprey, and further, paper enough to last for a couple of years has been bought in antici- 

 pation of the threatened rise in price. With new dress, new facilities, new printing arrangements 

 and new editors, we promise ourselves many new subscribers, and the subscribers themselves — old 

 as well as new — rich treats in the future. 



As to the new editors, we have the pleasure — and it is a very great pleasure — of announcing that 

 arrangements have been made with a number of gentlemen to act as associate editors of the Osprey 

 for the future. Their names are well-known to the readers of the Osprey as well as to ornithol- 

 ogists generally, and, with some of them at least, many of our readers are personally acquainted. 

 The gentlemen are Mr. Robert Ridgway, the curator of the Department of Birds of the National 

 Museum; Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, the curator of the Department of Reptiles, and especially emi- 

 nent as an ornithologist; Mr. Frederic A. lyucas, curator of the Department of Comparative 

 Anatomy, whose articles on the classification of various types are so much esteemed by ornithol- 

 ogists; Dr. Charles W. Richmond, chief assistant curator of the Department of Birds; Mr. Paul 

 Bartsch and Mr. William Palmer, also of the National Museum, and Mr. Harry C. Oberholser of the 

 Department of Agriculture, all of Washington. Further, Mr. Witmer Stone, who has charge of the 

 ornithological collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, atone time the most 

 complete in the world, will also kindly act as an associate editor. 



