1138 



THE OSPREY. 



Omaha. Nkb.. March 2'ith, IS'W. 

 I)K. Thkodork Gii.i.: 



EsTKKMKD Sir:— After a perusal of your pro- 

 position as it appears in Thk OspkKV for Feb- 

 ruary, I desire to add my mite toward encourag- 

 intv this f;-rand scheme. 



i believe that 3'our proposition is just what 

 the ornitholofi'ists of this country need and will 

 appreciate. 



The need of a new work of the kind you de- 

 scribe is evident to all who make a study of 

 ornitholog-y, either as amateurs or profession- 

 ally, and your proposed method of publication 

 in the form of appendi.xes to Thk Osi'REV will 

 tend to place the work in the hands of many 

 students of bird science, who would not, and in 

 many cases could not. afford to have it, if pub- 

 lished in the regular manner. 



I am positive that you will lind many hearty 

 supporters in regard to your proposition to give 

 the climatic races and "sub-species" a very sub- 

 ordinate rank, and in your manner of treating 

 the extralimital species. 



The suggestion regarding "uniform sequence 

 of data" is very valuable and useful, and. if 3'our 

 project is brought to a successful issue, should 

 lie adopted. 



I am heartily in favor of your proposed "New 

 History of North American Birds." and will 

 be g-lati to aid you in any way that I can. 

 Yours very respectfully. 



ISAIKIK S. TkOSTI.I'IK. 



SvK.\ciiSH. N. Y.. .\pril sth. IS'io. 

 The OspkEY Company: 



GenTi.KJIEn: — After reading Dr. Gill's letter 

 on the proposed new work on North American 

 birds, and also the editorial. I will say the sooner 

 the work is begun the better. 



Dr. Gill has surely thrown a bomb-shell into 

 the ornithological cam)) which ought to have 

 been done long ago. and I hope the force of the 

 explosion will be sufficient to make every reader 

 realize that something- has got to be done to 

 settle the matter of classification, which should 

 be guided by morpholog-ical characters, and not 

 liv the fruitless efforts of a committee. 



The co-operation of a large number of orni- 

 thologists under the leadership of Dr. Gill and 

 Dr. Coues, and possibly one or two others who 

 might be named, would make this work an un- 

 rivaled success. 



The sequence of data is a point to be com- 

 mended, especially in giving a thoroug'h diag- 

 nosis of every species taken up. 



The idea of publishing- the work in connection 

 with The OspkEY is a good one, and it will add 

 many new subscribers to your list. 



I will be glad to offer myself to aid the work 

 in every way that I can. and I hope to see its 

 commencement in a near future numlier. 



With best wishes, 



Very respectfully yours. 



A. W. Pekkhik. 



788 Broadway, N. Y.. April 30th, 1899. 

 Dear Dr. Gii,i.: I have not had time until 

 1 tely to read your exceedingly interesting pro- 

 posal for a new history of North American birds 

 in the February OsprEY. It is a magnificent 

 scheme, and full of common sense — something 

 greatly lacking in most ornithological work; 

 and I should dearly love to do some of the biog- 



raphical compilation if I could afford it. I hope 

 you will i)ut it through. 



Cordially. 



ErxicsT Ingkrsoi.i,. 

 P. S.- In your seqvience of data would'nt it be 

 more natm-al and philosophical to put "age of 

 pairing" alongside of the item "mating," in- 

 stead of where it stands? 



E. I. 



Toui.oN. Ii.i... April .id, l«9i). 

 Editor of thk Osprky: 



I wonder if Dr. Gill fully appreciates the mag- 

 nitude of the work he proposes? I can speak 

 from some slig'ht experience of my own. for in 

 l,S92-'9.:i. Mr. W. E. Loucks and myself under- 

 took the task of ascertaining the distribution of 

 birds ill Illinois, tog-ether with some other data, 

 on nearly the same plan as proposed by Dr. (iill, 

 e.xcept that we did not intend to depart from the 

 regular classiiication. Our reports were to be 

 published in the "O. and O." I mail to you two 

 nuntbers of this magizine, with one of our cir- 

 culars enclo.sed. You will see by consulting the 

 February number how little real information we 

 received on most of the points required in our 

 circular; and you can also imagine how much 

 worthless material we had to sift out. 



I lost faith in the "operaglass" people then, 

 but found al.so that the "shot-gun wing" could 

 do but little better, for while we could not depend 

 on the former for identification, the latter could 

 Usually tell us nothing of interest ;ibout the 

 nesting habits; the Audubonists were little 

 better. 



While Dr. Gill's work may not on the whole be 

 practicable, yet if he can stir up the average 

 collector, be ho of birds or of eggs, or both, to 

 answer a few questions on his list, he will have 

 (lone a great work. How many members of the 

 A. O. n. can tell how many days will elapse 

 from the time any g-iven bird begins to brood 

 before the young birds appear? Or how long 

 the^' remain in the nest? Or even the time re- 

 quired for depositing- a full compliment of eggs? 

 Tile opera-glass will not do alone; neither will 

 tlie gun be all that is required. We niust draw 

 on biitli if w-e woiiUl obtain the best results. 

 Truly yours. 



A. C. Ml'RCHISON. 



.4RK FIVE SETS KNOrCH? 



Los Angeles, Cal.. March 30th. 1899. 

 Editor of the Osprky: 



DK-VR Sir: -It was with a g^reat deal of in- 

 terest that I read the article of Rev. W. F. Hen- 

 ninger in your February number. I agree with 

 you that Mr. Davis has written our best all- 

 round egg--book, and it is deserving of all the 

 praise and success his work has met with. 

 Nevertheless, the small boy and the egg--hog 

 have certainly caused a decrease in the number 

 of our summer birds. It seems only a question 

 of time when some of our birds will be a thing 

 of the past. The Kingbird, for instance, which 

 at one time was one of our commonest summer 

 residents, is each year becoming scarce, not only 

 in this vicinity, but all <jver Los Angeles 

 County. 



Almost as noticeable is the decrease in the 

 number of Calamospiza melaiiiicoiys, Stejn. and 

 Uticodytes brunnr'napillns. Of our water birds 



