THE OSPEE^. 



123 



TMEJ OSfieEJ'V". 



An Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology'. Published 



Monthly, except in July and August, 



By the 



OSPREY PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



ELLIOTT COUES, Editor. 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON, Associate Editor. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, Art 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, On- 

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



Foreign Subscription — One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents. Post- 

 age paid to all countries in the Postal Union. 



Advertising Rates Sent on Request. 



Entered by The Ospkev Publishing Company as second-class 

 matter at the Washington, D. C, Post Office. 



Vol. III. 



APRIL, 1899. 



No. 8. 



Editorial Eyrie. 



We are asked to define our position and 

 state whether we stand for the I'rotection of 

 birds with a big P, or the Destruction of birds 

 witli a big D. We trust that tlie fohinins of 

 The Osi'REY have already .shown that we 

 stand both for the protection and for the de- 

 struction of birds. Circumstances alter cases. 

 Under some circumstances birds should be de- 

 stroyed; under others, they should be pro- 

 tected. We can put the whole thing in a nut- 

 shell, which we leave to be cracked by our 

 readers according to their inclination or 

 ability: 



1. Uirds must and shall be destroyed bj' the 

 acts of (iod, such as stress of weather, snakes, 

 monkeys, cats, foxes, skunks, weasels, hawks, 

 owls, crows, .lays, and numerous other de- 

 structive natural agencies ordained by Divine 

 Providence. 



2. Birds must and shall be destroyed and de- 

 prived of their nests and eggs to any extent 

 which may be neces.sary and proper for orni- 

 thological and oological purposes. 



3. Birds must and shall be destroyed for 

 legitimate sport, under the provisions of the 

 game laws in force in any State or territory. 



4. Birds must and shall be destroyed for 

 economic and commercial purposes, the flesh 

 and eggs of some birds being among the most 

 important food-products of the United States. 



On the other hand — 



5. Birds must and shall be protected from 

 wanton, cruel, needless, unseasonable or 

 illegal destruction of themselves or their eggs. 



iiegarding the first of these propositions. 

 The Osprev does not concern itself particu- 

 larly with the acts of God. They are beyond 

 the scope of this magazine. It is not in the 

 special confidence of the Almighty, as some 

 journals seem to think they are, nor does The 



OSPEEY ever fly in the face of Providence. We 

 give God credit for knowing what He was 

 about when He made things, and for ability 

 to mind His own business without our assist- 

 ance. So we never presume to give Him any 

 advice, or make any suggestions which can be 

 regarded as reflecting critically upon the 

 course of nature which He has ordained. 



Proposition 2 is something with which TilE 

 OspREY concerns itself very particularly. This 

 is an illustrated monthly magazine of jjopular 

 ornitholog.v, which knows perfectly well that 

 ornithology can not be successfully studied 

 and promoted without a reasonable amount 

 of bird killing and egg robbing. The Osprey 

 advocates the killing of birds and the taking 

 of their eggs to any extent which may be 

 found necessary for proper ornithological and 

 oological purposes. This magazine will con- 

 tinue, as heretofore, to record the operations 

 of field naturalists, collectors, and all others 

 properly interested in the pursuit of ornithol- 

 ogy for its own sake, whether such operations 

 are conducted with the shotgun, climljing 

 iron.s, and egg drill, or with the opera glass, 

 kodak, and a green cotton umbrella. It will 

 print articles descriptive of birds and their 

 nests and eggs, even though the birds have 

 been killed and their nests and eggs stolen in 

 order to make such contributions to ornithol- 

 ogy possible. If this should harrow the souls 

 of supersensitive ])eople and set them to shud- 

 dering over "bird nmrdering," "egg hogging," 

 and all that, we shoidd advise them not to 

 read The Osprey. Why not stop taking a 

 magazine accused of being "gorj"" and cruel 

 and wicked? Becaiise this magazine is neither 

 "gory" nor cruel nor wicked; because nobody 

 who is interested in birds in any way can af- 

 ford to he without it; because it is a popular- 

 izer of the science of ornithology, and an edu- 

 cator of the people in that science, and a 

 pleasure giver to thousands who love to study 

 birds and wish to be helped in that stud}'; be- 

 cause it is conducted bv men with no non- 

 sense about them, who know what they are 

 about, and do not propose to be bothered by 

 sentimental faddists affected by an itch for 

 notoriety or an impulse to reform everybody 

 but themselves; because The Osprey flies on 

 balanced wings of fearlessness and truthful- 

 ness, freighted with all the good fish it can 

 catch and carry. 



Our third proposition is a sort of corollary 

 of the second. The Osprey stands on this 

 proposition with such ,iournals as Forest and 

 Stream, for example. It stands for healthy, 

 manly sport with rod and gun in due seasons, 

 uniler reasonable leg-al restrictions. It stands 

 for rigid enforcement of salutary gTime laws 

 throughout our land. It stands for punish- 

 ment of pot hunters and other law breakers. 

 It protests against the prostitution of field 

 sports to cruel, wanton or indiscriminate kill- 

 ing. 



There is a point about our fourth proposi- 

 tion which may strike some persons with all 

 the force of novelty. Such are those who seem 

 to fancy that it makes a great difference what 

 birds are killed. So it does, to the bird which 

 is killed; but the person who sits down to 

 scold the collector for killing a certain bird 



