July 1S88.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



of OUR idea, and that but half aijfesteil, " strain 

 at :i f;iiat and swallow a caniel." Our idea 

 woulil 1)1- that a taiifl ^o icgulati'd that the work 

 of furtif;ii taxideruiisls sliould pay a duty of 

 25 per rent., and all skins, bird or animal, to 

 be used for taAidcrniii- or seientitic purposes, 

 bcadinitti'd free, would be inueh uioii^ sensil)le 

 from a piutet-tionist (loinl of view. 



■riic pcdiiicMl iMit is beginning to seetlie and 

 liubblc all over the rountry. The " seurvy poli- 

 tiiian " w ill soon be on th'> road " to eleave the 

 general ear with horrid speecli," the wliisper- 

 ing syeophants will cluster around the nominee 

 likely to lie elected, and '• cror)king tlie preg- 

 nant binges of their knees," <leclare that body 

 and soul, boots and brecclies, are they devoted 

 to bis election, but with the reiiuest that they 

 be considered when tlie giving out of offices 

 takes place. In times iiast, tlie Naturalist lias 

 not taken mucli interi^st in the political 

 struggle. If we do not mistake in the coming 

 clei'tion in this State, tliey an; liable to be a 

 factor in one direction at li ast. The law reg- 

 ulating the taking of b'ish and Game, through 

 the machinal ions of interested parties and by a 

 good deal of bluster and buucomlie, is so evi- 

 dently a piece of legislation favoring a .class, 

 and the execution has been so umpialitit'dly 

 preposterous and absurd, its otlicers so |)ull'ed 

 up with grandiloquence, have assumed and ar- 

 rogated to tliemselves powers never delegated 

 them, that tlie naturalists all over the State 

 will, before they vote for the candidates this 

 year, assure themselves that a change will be 

 made, if not in the law itself, of which they 

 have strong hopes, at least in the otlicers wlio 

 are supposed to execute ir, in spirit as well as in 

 letter. They want lo see as Game t'ommis- 

 sioners manlike StiUwcll and .Stanley 6f Maine 

 gentlemen of education, who labor for the best 

 interests of all, rather than little pufls of ego- 

 tism, without brains enough to till a mustard 

 seed, swelling and strutting about the State as 

 the autocrats in tlu^ e.^ecution of the law, de- 

 nying the request of an earnest student of Or- 

 nitholdgy. a permit to take birds for his 

 studies, and at the same time iritlidut bciny 

 a.skiid, and probably to curry favor, sending per- 

 mits to others. It is higli time that young, ac- 

 tive, earnest men were placed in charge of this 

 law, the fossils laid away, and the swell and 

 strut of egotism confined to the limits of a 

 river city police court — but, [iray don't laj' 

 him away, for he is as A. Ward says of his 

 kangaroo : " an auioosing little cuss." 



Stolen Names. 



A > imng publication entitled Tlic limj Stulc 

 Oulijiiht, which has issued six numbers, has de- 

 cided to change its name, and coolly apju-o- 

 priates the title (if TllK OiiNlTiiOl.ociST and 

 Ooi.oiiisr, having chosen 'I'hf Avirrinin Or- 

 iiilhiiliK/iat and Ool'ii/isl iia \\\r name fur its fu- 

 ture issues. If that i>ai)er can aflnrd to dress 

 itself in borrowed plumes, we can aflWrd to 

 stand the apju-opriation of our name, feeling 

 sure that the puerile publication so calling it- 

 self, will never be mistaken for the old estab- 

 lished OuNlTllot.cxasr AND Ooi.ocnsr. 



It would have been in better la-tc, li.iwcvii-, 

 for our young contemporary to have chosen a 

 title of its own, and imt have endeavored to 

 gain credit at our expense. 



Brief Notes. 



Michael Klroy told Alick M<'('loytliat Bridget 

 McMurpliy had said, that old man Tuley told 

 Elick McCauley that .lohniiy McKadden was 

 dead. 



I Applic-ablc to tlic I'dlldwiiiKj 



By actual count, a siugli' |{|ack-l)illeil Cuckoo 

 took 302 tent caterpillars from an apple tree in 

 li'SS thmt (in hour. So says James Clark ot 

 Walnut Hill, Mass. 



.\ Tennessee AVarljler and two Vellow-lxdlied 

 Flycatchers were taken .May 30 at Woburn, 

 Mass.. by W. W. Brown. 



A 3,000 edition of the O. i<: O. was printed in 

 Juna. 



,T. Waldo .Vash has a BliK^.lay taken at North 

 Conway, N. II., Feb. 20, with a decided cross- 

 bill. Length of upper mandible, 1.51 ; lower, 

 1.48. 



Some one writes tliat he has noticed an un- 

 usual number of birds on a lawn at one time 

 this Spring, and at once it is editorially herald- 

 ed as owing to tlie efficacy of the Audubon So- 

 ciety. Taffy. 



E. A. l.ewii^, whib' at I'lyniouth, Mass., 

 March 11, found a nest of the Great Horned 

 Owl. It measureil 18 inches in diameter out- 

 siiie. and .S inches inside; was lined with 

 feathers from tlie breast of the Owl. Buried 

 in them were two eggs, both measuring 2.25 x 

 1.94. 



It costs one cent to mail the O. & O. to Bos- 

 ton subscribers, and one-eighth of a cent to 

 those in California, one of the beautiful con- 

 sistencies of the postal law. 



