THE OSPEEY. 



107 



Letter Box. 



LOOKING DOWN CHIMNEY. 



Decokah, Iowa, Sept. 12, 1S9S. 

 Editor of The Ospeey: 



I send a photograph of a Chimney Swift's 

 nest, with live eggs, which was taken June 23d 

 of the present year. It is not often that good 

 pictures of such a nest are taken, and you may 

 like to use this one. Wishing- all success to 

 your great magazine, I remain, 

 Your.s very truly, 



R. v\'. Hegxer. 



Loi.kint; 1 town Chimney. 



ANOTHER SAMPLE. 



New Londox, Ohio, Feu. 20, 1S99. 

 Editor of The Okprev: 



I received the December number of The Os- 

 PREY. and was much surprised and chagrined, 

 to see a letter to which mj- name was sig-ned, 

 printed as a sample. You will find it on page 

 59. I also notice an appended note by the 

 "Eds." 



As to "arraig-nemenf' people sometimes 

 makes otherwise than in spelling. .Some re- 

 gardless of ones feelings. I know I am not 

 learned nor brilliant, That is my misfortune. 



I spend much time observing-, studying and 

 taking notes on nature in its naturalness, and 

 have much material and many notes, which if 

 "arraigned" by .some competent person, would 

 be of value — 1 had intended to have the notes 

 written mit, and a portion were to have been 

 offered to The Osprey. for the editors to ex- 

 cept or reject. 



Under the present condition of my feelings 

 the Editor of The Ospbey need have no fear 

 of any "arraignement" on my part of any thing 

 I may have placed in good editorial english. 

 from me. 



If you have any obiectional ))a|)er or )iapeis 

 written by me. let nie know what the postage 

 will be for their return ;iiid 1 will send the 

 same. 



Truly, 



E. E. Jf.VSTERM.VX. 



["Nature in its naturalness ' is so good that 

 we must give Mr. JIasterman another chance. 

 "Nature in its naturalness" is just what we 

 want, and if Mr. .\lasterman will let us have 

 some more of it we will promise not to flatter 

 his innocence by comparing it to the purity of 

 a Trilby altogether. — Eds.] 



A LADY'S INDIGNATION. 



Watertowx, N. Y.. .Tax. :«, 1S99. 

 Editor op The Osprey: 



Not long since I read an article in a maga- 

 zine which stated that the rapid decrease in 

 the number of birds in the United 

 States is a marked and deolorable 

 fact. The writer attributed 'this de- 

 crease partly to the natural enemies 

 of the birds, such as reptiles, niani- 

 nials and birds of prey, and partly 

 to the sinful fancy of women to deco- 

 rate their bonnets with feathers, etc. 

 lint more — far more — to the irre- 

 pressible small boy and to the so- 

 lalled scientist, whose insatiable pas- 

 sion for nest-robbing often defeats 

 the repeated efforts of the songsters 

 Til raise a family. 



An article in the .November "0.s- 

 PREY" speaks of the extreme rarity 

 of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 

 "During two months spent in search 

 for this bird only four were heard." 

 They will be still more rare since this 

 search, for of the two pairs found 

 tlie two males were shot! Who will 

 be to blame if our rare birds totally 

 disappear? 

 In the "Pigeon Hole" of the December 

 "Osprey." out of eleven letters, all but two 

 (those concerning the Horned Lark and the 

 burrowing Owl) refer either to the shooting of 

 birds or to robbing their nests. I use the word 

 robbing advisedly, though, perhaps, the expres- 

 sion scientifically extracting might be more 

 jdeasing to the writers of these letters. In the 

 letter about the nesting of the Anhinga. the 

 \vriter speaks of taking seventeen sets of eggs 

 from one swamp, all eggs of the Anhinga, as I 

 uniierstand it, and in some cases the same pair 

 were twice robbed. 



Poor birds! Why were you .not completely 

 discouraged? No wonder "the next spring the 

 .\nhinga colony was less productive," as the 

 writer says, and "that the Anhingas are fast 

 leaving." If the nests of the nine other kinds 

 of birds found in this "collector's paradise" 

 were treated in a similar manner we hope they 

 too will leave. In your department "In the 

 f)sprey's Claws." December nunil)er. a reviewer 

 s])eaks of "bird-murdering under the guise of 

 science, that merits the severest condemna- 

 tion," and he asks, "what jjossible advance can 

 there be to science for a single private student 

 to possess one hinidred and fifty eggs of the 

 Ked-tailed Hawk, or forty sets of Humming 

 Bird eggs?" 



No wonder the Humming Bird has become so 

 rare that we all rush to our window to see 

 when one appears in our g-arden. 



We say .\men most heartily to these senti- 



