106 



THE OSPREY. 



THEJ OSr^RlEJ'^', 



An Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology. Published 



Mouthly. except in July and August. 



By the 



OSPREV PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



KLLIOTT COUES and THEODORE GILL. Editors. 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON, Associate Editor. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, An Editor. 



Contributions of a relevant nature are respectfully solicited, and 

 should be addressed to Dr. Coues, 1726 N Street N. W.. Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



Subscription — In the United States, Canada and Mexico, One 

 Dollar a year, in advance. Single copies. Ten Cents. 



Foreign Subscription — One Dollar ai^d Twenty-five Cents. Post- 

 age paid to all countries in the Postal Union. 



British Agent — Frank A. Arnold, Mersham, Surrey, England. 

 Advertising Rates Sent on Request. 



Copyright, 1898, by The Osprey Publishing Company. Eu 

 tered as second-class matter at the Washington, D. C, Post Office . 



Vol. 111. 



MARCH, 18il!1. 



Editorial Eyrie. 



How to beeoiue a truly great oniitholoyical 

 author is a question whicli seems to agitate the 

 mind of many a person. We can answer tliat 

 question and set that ag1tati(ui at rest. The 

 treatment we recommend to the patient is 

 simple and natural; it is warranted to kill or 

 cure the worst case. Here is our prescription: 



1. Learn to spell correctly. 



2. Learn to punctuate properly. 



3. Learn to construct sentences g-rauiuiat- 

 ically. 



When the jjatient has taken this medicine for 

 a few years, he will either be dead oi- in a fair 

 way to reco\er.\'. In tlie latter event, the rest 

 is easy, as follows: 



4. Find out something- that nobody else 

 knows about birds. 



5. Write it legiuiy. 



(1. .\nd send it to The ()si>uey. 



Then we will issue a certiticate of health, and 

 sug-g-est a post-g-raduate course of treatment by 

 means of which trid.y great cn-nitholog-ical au- 

 thorship may be embellished in the most 

 charming' manner. Candidates for this course 

 are only required to sign their names so legibly 

 that neither the editor nor the printer can mis- 

 take them: to give the date when and the [ilace 

 where their truly great ornithological authoi- 

 ship displays its perfections, and to jmt it all 

 on one side of the jjaper. If the archangel (la- 



bi"iel were t(.> semi us tlie gfad tidings of sal- 

 vation on l)oth sides of the |)aper we should 

 decline his article with tliaiii<s. and Icll him 

 that is no way to blow liis lu)iii. 



There seems to lie a ditfereni'e between the 

 shot-gun and the opera-g-lass wings of the or- 

 nithological aiiii.\. If it does not ;i.ijust itself 

 He will dii all in our pov\e]- to bring about a 

 better understanding — even act as referee — and 

 thus cause suspension of hostilities while the 

 disputants forg-et their dispute long enough to 

 unite in abusing- us. One trouble with the 

 Audubonians seems to be that there are too 

 manv inspired idiots among' them, who fancy 

 they have a (iod-given mission not to hide their 

 lig'ht under a bushel. The shotgun people are 

 mostly made of sterner stuff; the\' are realistic 

 and 'can be cultivated, ediu'ated and really 

 helped in various ways. Hut the <ipera glass 

 iiends! The,\' always li\e too near the great 

 heart of nature to know anything of her head 

 or hands, or do a stroke of sensible work, even 

 to protect the birds. Out of the g:reat heart of 

 nature, where they live, they give all cry and 

 no wool — something' which, to change the met- 

 aphor, butters no parsnips. One woman wrote 

 to say she was so unhapijy because the cats in 

 her neighborhood killed birds. We were going- 

 to write back and suggest that she collect the 

 murderous felines and read the Audubon circu- 

 lar to them: but we restrained ourselves and 

 advised her to feed the cats. This, we thought, 

 would give the birds a little holiday in two 

 ways, for if she kept a table d"hote for the 

 Tommies and Pussies she would have no time 

 to spy out what was happening' to the poor 

 birds. If some of the Audubonians would keep 

 cats in the house, and keep themselves out of 

 print, they would be doing real work for a suf- 

 fering- world of feathered and featherless bi- 

 peds. 



We regret to learn of the death, on January 

 27, 18"J9, near lienton Harbor. Mich., of Simon 

 Pokagon. the venerable chief of tlie I'ottawa- 

 tomies, a contributor and subscriber to The 

 Osprey. He died in poverty, after spending 

 much of his life in trying to keep sober and 

 prevent the l'. S. tlovcrninent from cheating 

 his tribe. He was an Indian of superior intel- 

 lectual equipment, who took an active interest 

 in many other things besides ornithology. He 

 first became prominent at the World's Fair of 

 lSfl3. and his death has occasioned man.v favor- 

 able notices in the press of the country at 

 larg-e. His exact age we do not know, but it 

 ajuieai'S that his ba|itisiiial name dates from 

 1«29. 



