no 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 7 



doiil)t thesUitiMuents of some of our pi-oniinent 

 oiiiithologiciil authors that a set consists of 

 f loiii four to five Pfri?^. They should not be too 

 fast however. I have found a number of sets 

 witli eaeh of the al)Ove numbers as a eoniple- 

 ineiit. Ill Dane (duiity, Wis.. I found the sets 

 to consist ahnost entirely of four eggs eaeli. 

 Itut in Freel)orn County, Minn., the case was 

 altog<'tlier dilTeient. Of some twenty sets found 

 there, they were aliout evenly divided between 

 thi-ee, four and live. In most of them incu- 

 bation was well under way, showing that all 

 were complete sets. 



fn the November number, Mr. F. H. Carpen- 

 ter stated that the Red-eyed Vii'eo generally 

 lays four eggs to a set. In my collecting in 

 Dane County, Wis., I have examined many 

 nests of this si)ecies, and very seldom four eggs 

 in a set. Most of the nests contained three 

 eggs, and Iwii was liy n" mi'ans an uncommon 

 nuiub<!r. 



You will notice that the birds I have cited 

 are all very common, so I think no one can rea- 

 sonably accuse me of being mistaken in the 

 species. 



Do not these otiservations, coming from va- 

 rious eoricspondents all over this vast country 

 of ours, go to show that habitat has a great 

 deal to do with the nnmberof eggs in a set? It 

 seems to me that it does. 



Occurrence of Vireo flavoviridis at 

 Riverside, California. 



On the ;ilst of .Sep., 1887, I noticed while 

 hunting in the Santa Ana Hiver-bottom a little 

 bird flitting about in the top of a high cotton- 

 wood tree. It was secured and to my surprise 

 I found it to be V.jliimviridis. 



I'lof. Kiilgway, to whom I sent it for positive 

 identification said it was the most highly colored 

 specimen he had .seen. 



This Vireo is contined to the Lower Itio 

 (irande A'alley and outward, therefore my 

 speeimen must have been a straggler. 



WILL W. I'RICE. 



Editorial. 



Naturalists generally find more satisfaction 

 in following up their investigations in the ma- 

 terial world than they do in consideration of 

 those of i)olitieal economy, and it is not strange 

 that in the absorption of their studies they fail 

 to notice the drift (d' legislation, even though 



they sufter by it. The nation for the next few 

 months will be convulsed from ocean to ocean 

 upon a question of vital importance to every 

 citizen, whether he be greatly interested in the 

 study of Natural History or not, that of the 

 Tarirt'. Few of our naturalists have ever given 

 it a tbouglit as affecting their interests in their 

 studies, .-uul consequently have not taken the 

 trouble to look ui)tlie law or ascertain what the 

 interests are, or wherein they personally may 

 be affected. While they may be in favor of 

 protection to American industries, they are in 

 the dark as to whether the present law protects 

 the industry or aids the study of the American 

 Naturalist, and it is only when a case arises 

 that directly affects them that light is thrown 

 on the matter. 



The law, as it now reads, is that .all bird 

 skins prepared tin' transportation by being poi- 

 soned or filled with cotton, bear a duty of 

 twenty-five per cent., if they are to be used for 

 taxidermie or millinery purposes. 



That this in the first place don't protect the 

 American taxidermist much, all will agree. 

 Again, any person who purchases or has col- 

 lected for him, or has sent him in exchange 

 bird skins from abroad, is permitted to bring 

 tlietn in free of duty, on the claim that they are 

 to be solely used in the interests of science. It 

 makes no difference whether there be ten or ten 

 hundred of the same bird. The result is, he 

 wlio is so favored as to be able to fit out a collec- 

 tor personally, or as proxy for some institution, 

 is under the law given an opportunity to do quite 

 a stroke of business for himself at the exi)ense 

 of bis less-favored neighbor. He receives a 

 large number of foreign bird skins from his 

 collectors or correspondents, passes thcMn fret- 

 as being for scientific investigation, and innne- 

 diately opens shop for sale or exchange, while 

 others must buy at his figures, or it they import 

 pay 2.5 per cent. duty. That iliis has been and 

 is now being done, there is no question. 



Why should there be any duty on bird skins? 



The sentimentalists who have raved so over 

 the destruction of native birds for millinery 

 pni'poses, seemed content that there should be, 

 losing sight in their madness to follow a 

 " fad," that a duty on the bright plumaged foi'- 

 cign l)ir<i skins has only the eft'ect of enhancing 

 the value and increasing the destruction of our 

 natives, the fashion demanding a feather, and 

 if the purse will not admit of this purchase of a 

 high-priced foreign (made high-priced by a 

 duty), the most brillliant of our native will be 

 used in lieu. 



I?ut in this, as in many others, these people 



