10 



THE OSPREY. 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology 



Piiblislied Monthly except in July and Angnst 



KDITED BY 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON 



ASSOCIATED WITH 



Ur. ELLIOTT COUES 



Subscription: In the United States, Canada and Mexico, One 

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



Foreign Subscription: One Dollar and Twenty-live Cents. 

 Postage paid to all countries in the Postal Union. 



British agent; Frank A. Arnold, Mersham, Surrey, England. 

 Advertising rates sent on request. 



Official Organ Cooper Ornithological Club of the Pacific Coast. 



Notes and News of a relevant nature, and original contribu- 

 tions are respectfully solicited, and should be addressed to 

 the editor at the oflice of publication. 



Copyright, 1897, by The Osprey Company. Entered at the 

 Galesburg Postoffice as second-class mail matter. 



THE OSPREY COMPANY. 

 5i N. Prairie St. Galesburg, III. 



Our readers will share our pleasure in that we are, 

 in this number, afforded the opportunity of publishing 

 the portrait of William T. Hornaday. 



The name "Hornaday" has reached the public in 

 more ways than one. Hornaday's "Taxidermy" has 

 long been the most highly recommended work on the 

 art by college professors and taxidermists, and its 

 author is accorded the title of "the greatest taxider- 

 mist." 



Mr. Hornaday's work as a naturalist has been the 

 providing materials and information for the masses, 

 rather than for the technologists, as is well illustrated 

 by his work, "The Quadrupeds of North America," 

 published by the Century Company in .S"/. N^icholas 

 during 1894-5. 



The original proposition of a National Zoological 

 Park, which led to its establishment, was made by 

 Mr. Hornaday. This alone would make his name 

 live in the scientific world. 



The New York Zoological Society might have found 

 a more really scientific zoologist much nearer New 

 York City than Buffalo, but it is doubted whether it 

 could have found a man in the United States, or 

 elsewhere, more suited to take charge of what is 

 hoped to be one of the largest and best equipped 

 zoological gardens in the world. 



The portrait which appears in this number was 

 first published by the Matthews-Northrup Company, 

 of Buffalo, in their "Men of Western New York." 

 Mr. Hornaday says that later, as the work progresses 

 on the great park, he may be able to give The Osprey 

 more detailed accounts and pictures of the bird ac- 

 commodations, etc. 



A Wake-Robin Club was recently organized for 

 the study of birds by a number of the young ladies 

 at Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wis. The Rev. George 

 B. Pratt, of Chicago, has lately been making a series 

 of ornithological visits to the institution, and the 

 lively interest he has created is reflected in the 

 columns of llw Kemper Hall Kodak. 



On Mr. Pratt's last visit he was met at the station 

 by twenty-five members of the club in a wagonette 

 with four horses, and the day was spent in an excur- 

 sion to the "Petrifying Springs," a beautiful spot 

 about eight miles from Kenosha. After reaching the 



springs a picnic luncheon was spread under the trees, 

 and an hour or two was spent in watching the birds 

 with field glasses and filling their botanical case. 



On the next morning Mr. Pratt gave, in the draw- 

 ing room, an informal talk to the Wake- Robin Club 

 and its guests. He touched briefly upon the present 

 wide-spread interest in the study of birds, and des- 

 cribed the work of the Audubon Society in Chicago, 

 also mentioning the best modern books and maga- 

 zines on the subject. He then spoke upon the birds 

 themselves, illustrating with specimens from the 

 newly-acquired school collection and with a series of 

 plates painted by Mrs. Pratt 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the well-known scientist 

 of the American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York City, recently spent two afternoons in looking 

 up and compiling a list of the birds used in adorning 

 ladies' hats. He found forty species represented, in- 

 cluding Thrushes, Warblers, Shrikes, Flycatchers, 

 Tanagers, Swallows, Waxwings, Grosbeaks, Spar- 

 rows, Orioles, Woodpeckers, Jays, Owls, Grouse, 

 Doves, Quails, Shore Birds, Herons, Gulls, Terns, 

 and Grebes. In all he saw 173 wild birds, or parts 

 of them, on hats. Of these birds at least thirty-two 

 species are protected, or are supposed to be pro- 

 tected, by law, during all or a major portion of the 

 year. 



The celebrated Massachusetts law regarding the 

 wearing of wild birds' feathers on ladies' hats, which 

 has been of so much interest to Audubon Societies 

 and those interested in bird-protection, received a 

 heavy blow recently by the opinion given by Attor- 

 ney General Knowlton that "the statute of 1897, 

 chapter 524, is not to be construed as prohibiting the 

 having in possession or the wearing of the body or 

 feathers of birds taken or killed without the common- 

 wealth." The law since its existence has been in- 

 terpreted in many ways ; some folks have thought it 

 prohibited the wearing of practically all kinds of 

 feathers, no matter where the birds were killed. 



A letter from Mr A. W. Anthony states that his 

 party, including Messrs. McGregor and Kaeding, ar- 

 rived home about August i. The expedition has 

 been in Me.xican waters about six months and has 

 taken many rare birds and eggs; many of the latter 

 are still unknown to science. Mr. Anthony is already 

 arranging another expedition which will leave as 

 soon as possible for the Galapagos Islands and along 

 the coast of South America. At present he will not 

 attempt to work over and write up the collection, 

 though he expects to send The Osprev an illustrated 

 article relating to the last expedition before he sails. 



A scientific expedition sent out by the Frank B. 

 Webster Company, under the patronage of the Hon. 

 W. Rothschild, of London, left for the South Pacific, 

 June 21, on the schooner "Lila and Mattie." The 

 party is composed of Mr. C. M. Harris, of Augusta, 

 Me., and three assistants, Messrs. G. D. Hull, of 

 Dartmouth College, F. P. Drown, of Providence, 

 R. I., and R. H. Beck, of Berryessa, Cal. They ex- 

 pect to do much work in the fauna and flora of the 

 South Sea Islands. Messrs. F. B. Webster, Roths- 

 child and Beck are subscribers to The Osprey and 

 we will expect further news from the expedition later. 



The Museum at Roger Williams Park, Providence, 

 R. I., has just secured an appropriation for some fine 

 new casing. Mr. James M. Southwick, the curator, 

 is busy arranging and hunting up new contributions. 



