52 



THE OSPREY. 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology 

 Published Monthly except in July and August 



EDITED BY 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON 



ASSOCIATED WITH 



Dr. 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-five Cents. 

 Postage paid to all countries in the Postal Union. 



British agent: Frank A. Arnold, Mershani, 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 office of publication. 



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

 Galesburg Postoffice as second-class mail matter. 



THE OSPREY COMPANY. 



Removes this month from Galesburg, 111. to 



141 East 25TH Street, - - - - New York City. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Osprev has become a greater success than its 

 publishers anticipated. For some time past it has been 

 thought advisable to change the office of publication 

 to New York City — the great publishing center and 

 the home of success to periodical publications. The 

 dangers of such a move have been fully appre- 

 ciated ; we have had no wish to encounter the greater 

 expense of magazine production and the increased 

 difficulties that accompany the advantages of a pub- 

 lishing center, without some assurances of success. 

 But now, as our magazine is commencing to be no 

 longer classed as a young magazine, we have, we be- 

 lieve, forestalled the vicissitudes of our future e.xist- 

 ence, and can say that the present change is made 

 under the most favorable circumstances. The editor 

 has accepted a position with the S. S. McClure Com- 

 pany which makes him financially independent of The 

 Osprey. And it is with the advice of Mr. S. S. Mc- 

 Clure, editor of the greatest of American dollar mag- 

 azines, and the most enthusiastic advice of Dr. Coues 

 and others who have been consulted, that now the 

 decision of removal is made. Moreover, through the 

 kindness of the editor of ' McClure's Magazine,' The 

 Osprev will be printed at the McClure plant ; and 

 with the facilities of a great magazine establishment 

 our magazine will be produced at the same or a lower 

 cost than heretofore. Thus, with the advantages of 

 the great publishing center and the already-gained 

 good-will of ornithologists, we will endeavor to make 

 it not only the "leading monthly magazine for bird- 

 students," but also a magazine of wider popular 

 circulation, which will enable us to carry out our 

 plans of enlargement and improvement. 



It is a self-impressed fact that the study of birds — 

 popular ornithology — in the last few years has rapidly 

 become more and more widespread ; and to use the 

 expression of an eminent ornithologist, we are at 

 present on the crest of a great wave of interest in 

 birds. Not all of this bird interest is superficial ; that 

 much of it is of serious intent to study the birds in a 

 scientific way is illustrated by Mr. Frank M. Chap- 

 man, who, in a talk before the recent Congress of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, said that 40,000 



more or less technical 'handbooks' or 'keys' had 

 been sold by eastern publishers in the last five vears, 

 and that the sales are now augmenting rapidly. This 

 is to say nothing of the various popular bird-books 

 which in recent years seem to be flooding the market. 



While in New York City the editor had the pleasure 

 of a little chat with Mrs. J. L. Bradford, and atten- 

 tion was called to the little work ' Audubon ' which is 

 sold by the Audubon Fund Society of New Orleans. 

 The Society has for its object the erection of a bronze 

 monument of Audubon in Audubon Park of their city. 

 The little work was written by Mrs Bradford, the 

 wife of Capt. James L. Bradford, a prominent law- 

 year of New Orleans, and a member of the exclusive 

 set of that most aristocratic city of the South. Mrs. 

 Bradford published the little story in a neat souvenir 

 style, and presented the edition to the Society to be 

 sold for the purpose of raising monument funds. The 

 laudable work of Mrs. Bradford and the Society of 

 which she is President, should receive a token of 

 commendation from every admirer of the great Audu- 

 bon in the purchase of a copy of this little work. 



Dr. Morris Gibbs kindly sends us a package of the 

 embalming compound for mounting specimens, which 

 he has advertised so extensively in this magazine. It 

 is an easy process for those who have not mastered 

 the difficulties of taxidermy. While on a bicycle tour 

 this last summer the editor was surprised to see three 

 large hawks perched on a barn in a populous farm 

 yard : but they proved to be mounted by the Gibbs 

 process, which was a rather forcible advertisement. 



An article is sent us from Mr. Manly Hardy, and 

 as it continues the controversy between the author 

 and Dr. Coues, we must decline to print it. Because 

 of the suspension of 'The Nidologist,' Dr. Coues re- 

 plied to Mr. Hardy's article, which was published in 

 that magazine, in The Osprey ; but The Osprey does 

 not wish to become the organ of continued contro- 

 versy. 



We wish to call the special attention of our readers 

 to the fact that The Osprey Company can now fill 

 orders for books at rates some cheaper than most of 

 our readers can procure them elsewhere, and as 

 promptly as orders to the publishers would be filled. 

 This is a co-operative venture with The Osprey and 

 its readers ; send your every order to us and make 

 the scheme a lasting success. 



In late numbers of the Helena, Ark. , ' Daily World ' 

 Mrs. Louise M. Stephenson continues her admirable 

 writings in the interests of bird-protection. In three 

 copies of the ' Daily World ' before us are the articles: 

 ' African Barbarians and Barbarous Americans, ' ' The 

 Costly Aigrette,' and ' W^hat the Birds Say.' In the 

 former two are quotations from The Osprey. 



Among the prominent naturalists whom ornitholo- 

 gists had the pleasure of meeting at the recent A. O. 

 U. Congress was Mr. E. W. Nelson of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, lately returned from Mexico, 

 where in recent years he has been engaged in syste- 

 matic explorations. 



Prof. James G. Needham, formerly of Knox Col- 

 lege, Galesburg, will finish his two years' work with 

 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Cornell Univer- 

 sity, next June. During the present winter term, 

 however, he will study at Harvard University. 



Among the rare sets taken by Mr. O. W. Howard 

 in Arizona the past season, are those of the Olive 

 Warbler, Stephen's Whip-poor-will, Frosted Whip- 

 poor-will, Elf and Ferruginous Pygmy Owls, Coues' 

 Flycatcher, and Kivoli Hummingbird 



Mr. James Newton Baskett, author of that excellent 



