74 



THE OS PEE Y. 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illuslrated MagaziQe of Popular Ornithology. 



I'ublished Montlily, except in July :i.nd Aut'llst. 



By the 



OSPREY PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



ELLIOTT COUE.S and THEODORE GILL, Editors. 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON, Associate Editor. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ PUERTES, Ark Editor. 



CoutributioDs of a relevant nature are respectfully soli- 

 cited, and should be addressed to Dr. CouE.s. ITSii N Street 

 N. W., Washington- D. C. 



Subscription : In the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

 One Dollar a year, in advance. .Single Copies. Ten Cents. 



Foreign Subscription: One Dollar and Twenty-tive Cents. 

 Postage paid to all countries in the Postal LTnion. 



British agent : Frank A. Arnold, Mersham, Surrey, Eng- 

 land. 



Advertising rates sent on req.'Uest. 



Copyright. 1898. by the The Ospret Publishing Company. 

 Entered as secoad-class matter at the Washington. D. 

 C, Post Oftice. 



Vol. III. 



JANUARY, 1899. 



Editorial Eyrie. 



During- a long- life spent in the pursuit of vir- 

 tue under difficulties presented by the world, the 

 flesh, and the devil, vre have sometiuies re- 

 marked the futility of explanations, excuses and 

 apolog-ies. Explanations seldom succeed in ex- 

 plaining things satisfactorily ; excuses generally 

 accuse oneself, as the French say; and the oc- 

 casion for apologies ought never to arise. We 

 are led to these somber reflections by the num- 

 ber of complaints which reach us from patient 

 or impatient but always long-suifering sub- 

 scribers who have failed to receive ThkOspkev 

 through no fault of theirs. On investigating 

 these complaints as fast as they were brou'^ht 

 lo our attention we have found them just and 

 proper in every single instance. We are smitten 



on one cheek, and we meekly turn the other 



fortunately, we have cheek enough for the 

 emergency. Our subscribers do not want ex- 

 planations, excuses, or apologies; what they 

 want is The Osprev; they are perfectly right 

 in this, and it shows g-reat discernment. The 

 melancholy fact is, that in the office irregulari. 

 ties consequent upon the recent change in the 

 business management of the magazine, about 

 a hundred addresses of paid-up subscribers 

 were lost. We could do nothing but await de- 

 velopments in the most abject debasement of 

 mind; but the vigor and energy of those devel- 



opments have been simply phenomenal. Every 

 case thus far heard from has been in,stantly at- 

 tended to; and we earnestly hope our friends 

 will continne to smite us on either or both 

 cheeks till every such case is adjusted to their 

 entire satisfaction, and every cause for com- 

 plaint is removed. They say that lightning- 

 never strikes twice in the same place, and very 

 likely The Osprey will never again be so near- 

 ly clubbed to death. Meanwhile, brethren, the 

 brave old bird goes on as if nothing had hap- 

 pened, and we continue to entertain while we 

 instruct ourconstituency in the pleasing Science 

 of Birds by editing the best illustrated monthly 

 magazine of popular ornithology the world has 

 ever ,seen. 



By the way— speaking of paid-up Subscribers 

 for 1899— have you paid up for the current 

 volume? Because, if you have not done so, why 

 not? 



A plate representing the Osprey's foot appears 

 in the recent number of the Ornithologische 

 Monatsschrift des Deutschen Vereins zum 

 Schutze der Vogelwelt (pi. IS). It is quiteg-ood, 

 but we like ours better— nobody can touch Mr. 

 Fuerte-s— '-in the Osprey's claws"— or out of 

 them. 



"The Osprey"s Claws" seem to have a fetch- 

 ing way about them, as raptorial organs ought. 

 For example, there is Mr. Charles F. Eumnis, 

 editor and chief source of inspiration of Land 

 of Sunshine, the very brightest and best month- 

 ly magazine that reaches us from that or any 

 other land. Mr. Eummis is an unterrified and 

 unmuzzled and otherwise model editor, who 

 keeps what he calls "The Lion's Den" in his 

 Magazine, strewn with the bones of judgmati- 

 cal and pragmatical Daniels who went for wool 

 and got worse than shorn. Our Editorial Eyrie 

 is just a little Sunday school in comparison, 

 and we should like to borrow a file for the Os- 

 prey's claws from Mr. Eummis, if he would 

 lend us the one with which he sharpens his 

 Lion's teeth. "I killed an Osprey when I was 

 a boy," writes Mr. Lummis, "and picked him 

 up a little unripe, and I know how his finger- 

 nails feel. If yours go as deep and hold" as 

 grimly, why God help the fellow, that's all. 

 Still, I fancy God won't. If there is anything 

 on earth that is needed in this relaxed and 

 flabby social tissue, it is fearless criticism of 

 the scrubs that infest us. If an honest and 

 competent man has any one duty now-a-days it 

 is to do his best to expose and shame the di.s- 

 houest and incompetent, who are having things 

 so much their own way. So, power to the oV 

 prey's talons!" 



