so 



THE OSPREY. 



nounceinent eutitled, "Truth versus Error," 

 wbicli we hope every reader of The Osprky 

 will ponder well This stinging satire upon 

 the Advocates of Illiteracy in scientific language 

 is followed by a feeble counterblast from our 

 friend rir. J. A. Allen, whom we are sorry to see 

 posing 3S high priest and prophet of the Gospel 

 of Krror. The higher he climbs the tree of 

 knowledge of Latin and Greek the nioi e clearly 

 he shows the insecurity of his perch. We 

 hardly think he has a right to express any 

 opinion on a question of philological proprieties, 

 for he has never discovered that there is a 

 science of philology as well as a science of or- 

 nithology. He should stick to the latter, and 

 let the former alone. It grieves us to find him 

 in such a fix. Mr. Witmer .Stone gives a Re- 

 port of the A. O. U. Committee on Bird Pro- 

 tection, which will be read with interest, 

 especially by the members of the numerous 

 Audubon Societies. We have the usual goodly 

 array of notes, reviews, and news, which have 

 from the beginning been conspicuous and im- 

 portant features of this standard quarterly, un- 

 der its conspicuously able and steady editorial 

 management. — E. C. 



The Maiiiiillan Company announces the pub" 

 lication in February, under the editorship of 

 Frank M. Chapman, of the first number of a 

 popular bi-monthly mag'azine of ornitholog-y, to 

 be known as "Bird Lore." This mag'azine will 

 aim to fill a place in journalism similar tf) that 

 held bv the writings of John Burroughs. Henrv 

 Van Dyke. Bradford Torrey, and Olive Thorn'e 

 Miller in book form. The authors just men- 

 tioned, and numerous others known for their 

 powers of observation and description, will be 

 among its contributors. The illustrations will 

 be made from photographs of birds and their 

 nests in nature. The mag'azine will be the otfi- 

 cial organ of the Audubon Societies for the pro- 



tection of l)irds. and a department devoted to 

 their work will be imder the charge of Mrs. 

 Mabel O.sgood Wright, who lately won enviable 

 distinction as co-author with Dr. Coues of Citi- 

 zen Bird, the most popular bird book for young 

 folks ever written. We shall heartily welcome 

 the appearance of Bird Lore, which is publish- 

 ed under such favorable conditions that its suc- 

 cess seeems to be a foregone conclusion. — E. 

 D. S. 



"Quail Sliootiii;j; in South Ca I ifo ni i a" iv, the 

 title of a readable article bv Horace A. Vachell 

 in the Pall Mall Gazette for January, 1899, pp. 

 n.s-12(l. It is considered "safe to prophesy that 

 the Ouail in the Coast Ranges will never be ex- 

 terminated, as few sportsmen are willing to un- 

 dergo exercise that puts to the proof brains, 

 lungs, heart, and muscle." This is good news 

 for the Ouail; and the writer al.so adds, for the 

 benefit of Ouail shooters, that there "is no finer 

 s])ort: it is, and always will be. t/ir sport of Cal- 

 ifornia." 



./ ll'iij/i/ of (jiccn Hilh. ( )bservations of 

 Nature and Human Nature in the Blue Ridge. 

 Bv Bradford Torrev. Boston and New Y<irk: 

 Houghton, Mifflin a'nd Co., 1898. 12 mo., pp. 28.=;. 



Mr. Torrey is well known as a goodob.serverof 

 nature, and a pleasant writer who makes ea.sy 

 reading' for all who enjoy outing. This is, we 

 believe, the sixth volume of a series of booklets, 

 all bringing' to the reader the freshness of the 

 fields and woods. It describes a tour he lately 

 made in North Carolina and Virg'inia, the birds, 

 Howers and people he met, his search for ravens 

 in the mountains, the natural bridge, and other 

 attractive spots. It is not particularly ornitho- 

 logical, tint Mr. Torrey has an eye for birds, 

 knows where to look for them, and knows many 

 of them in plea,sant intimacy or in glad sur- 

 prise. 



Ir '''^i. 



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