IHE OOLOGIST. 



133 



(juest tli.it they (itber ovt rlonk or trar tliciii 

 out. 



111b. AVe hnve sevcrnl Imudn'd snb'-cribers 

 that would rather pay us au additioual 5()e. 

 per year than to have the Oologist pub- 

 lished without its advertising pages. 



12th. That inasmuch as orer four /mil- 

 d red of the OcLotusT's subscribers have 

 already I 'Uid in advance for Davie's i\ tvr 

 Check IJst and fully as many more are anx- 

 iously awaiting its issue, we know from ex- 

 ])erience that anything that conveys an iilea 

 to the waitii g uclcgist ll.at the woik is ever 

 to be issued, is of decided interest. 



i:Jth. As to the Oologist "degenerating 

 icto ii third-cla.'-spiipe],' we woukl simply 

 say that we aie willing to submit the last 

 twelve issues of our little magazine to a 

 committee of live ItVC (lologlntn and if from 

 their verdict it is determined that the (ico-- 

 iKjc value of ciich issue is not greater from 

 an ooli'gical and ornithological standpoint, 

 thiin (ill the issues of any four-page ama- 

 teur publication in America during the same 

 period, we will donate to any school nr col- 

 lege they may naiiie n lollectiou of bird's 

 eggs worth not les.s than fifty dollars. 



As a reply to the editorial we might sug- 

 gest the following letter, as it handles the 

 subject with much greater abilitj' and fair- 

 ness than could possibly be done b}' the 

 editor of the Oologist. Much value and 

 weight is added to the letter from the fact 

 that it Was written unsolicited by a disin- 

 terested paity, and that further the gentle- 

 man is not only an oologist, but au editor of 

 one of the leading newspapers of Vermont, 

 Viz: The St. Johii'ibnrij Uto]''d>ma)i 



We purposely omit the name of the sheet 

 publishing this "trash " as we have no de- 

 sire to give it the beneiit of "our reply" as 

 an advei tisement. 



St J..hnFLuiy, May 18, '89. 



:Mr. Lattiu, 



Dear Sir : —The last 



has such an unwarranted as well as false at- 

 tack on the merits of your little magazine, 

 that I want to olfer an unsolicited tribute to 

 its value and meiit. From a newsjiaper 

 standpoipt, and my bu.sines.=; makes me view 



it in that light, what can any one think of a 

 paper which prints such rot as this? 



"We aie advised that a certain publisher 

 is passing criticisms (?n the last number of 

 this pai^er. If we are able to Hud out who 

 the knock-kneed, hmg-legged, gamble - 

 shanked, big footed, blear-eyed, dilapidated 

 s]iecimen of a man is we wont leave enough 

 of him to till a humming-birds egg. 



I took this from the under 



the betid of editoridls. 



Your magazine is well edited, ils adver- 

 tisements have built up my small collection 

 of e<,'gs, as you well know, tmd the idea 

 that is a third-class jiaper is false. Success 

 to the Oologist. 



Yours Truly. 



Arthur F. Stone. 



This is the editorial (?) I refer to. 



The sloobologist of Albion is degeneratiug. 

 It used to be second to none, but has now 

 degenerated into a third-class paper. About 

 one-half of each issue is taken up with its 

 bargain lists, which bargains no body wants, 

 one-eighth to Davie's new check list and the 

 res^ to some scieutitic discussion which iu- 

 teiests no one but the person who writes it. 

 "Wake uj)" Mr. Mattiu and s»%e your pa- 

 per's reputation. 



Ground Dove. 



Having seen a goo<l deal about the nest- 

 ing habits of this bird, I will tell what I 

 know about it. I noticed au tirticle by L. S. 

 Morrison, Lake Helen, Fl >rida, iu which Mr. 

 Perry says: "Have been collecting for 

 fifteen years iind never found nest of this 

 bird on the ground '. Out of five sets that 

 I collected in 1888, four were laid on the 

 ground, the nest being simply a slight hol- 

 low in the ground, lined with a few straws. 

 Its nesting season is any time from Feb- 

 ruary to 0( lobf r. The bird is very aljuud- 

 ant in this county. Thej' become very 

 tame and stay around a house like the 

 Mockingbird. There were two nests built 

 within 7ri feet of my house last season. 

 Hoping to hear more about this beautiful 

 1 ird. 



W, E.. Thouotosassa. Fla. 



