12 



THE OOLOGIST 



with the March number. With this num- 

 ber we have issued the index to VoUime III, 

 which will be sent to all of our subscribers 

 to that volume. 



Tfie ©«rogist 



FOURTH PUBLICATION YEAR. 



APRIL, 1878. 



Sending Silver in Letters. — A great 

 many subscribers and patrons state that they 

 are obliged on account of the scarcity of 

 paper currency to send postage stamps. 

 We desire ,to say that silver in small a- 

 mouuts may be safely sent in letters, and 

 we will take the responsibility of amounts 

 less than $1.00 so sent. Larger amounts 

 should be sent by post-office orders or in 

 registered letters. 



The many encouraging notices given us 

 by the press, are, we can assure our friends, 

 a most pleasing testimonial to us of the 

 cordiality with which our journal is receiv- 

 ed. May we hope that our efforts will con- 

 tribute much toward the elevation of the 

 science we advocate. 



Wk consider it rather imprecedented in 

 the history of ornithological journalism to 

 have 85 per cent, of the subscriptions re- 

 newed. However, we have attained that 

 score, and have no doubt ere this is read 

 that all but a very few of the remaining 15 

 per cent, will have been renewed. 



Our colored plates having been entirely 

 exhausted, we would state to those of our 

 readers who have subscribed for the plate 

 subsequent to the issue of the March num- 

 ber, that another edition of that issue with 

 plates will be published and sent them with 

 the June number. 



We found it impossible, owing to the 

 time occupied in perfecting the improve- 

 ments upon our journal, to issue an index 



Professor Joseph Henry . — It is prop- 

 er that we should record the death of one 

 of our greatest scientific men, that of Pro- 

 fessor Joseph Henry, the late Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 

 And in this connection, a brief review of 

 his life while serving the Institution will, 

 we trust, serve as an item in memoriam. 

 He became Secretary of the Institution in 

 1846, having been chosen by a Board of 

 Regents appointed by Congress, after a se- 

 vere competition. His plan, upon which is 

 based the present great working principle 

 of the Institution, — that of diffusing knowl- 

 edge and promoting scientific research in 

 accordance with the instructions lucidly giv- 

 en by the testator, James Smithson, — an- 

 swered the provisions of the bequest most 

 clearly, and to-day the great benefit derived 

 from the Institution by the scientific world, 

 is more than an illustration of the wisdom 

 and practicality of its Secretary. His en- 

 ergy and unremitting toil for thirty years 

 in the cause of science, entitle him to a 

 place in the ranks of our greatest scientific 

 men, for as Secretary, he performed a vast 

 amount of work, and in conjunction with 

 eminent specialists dispensed advice and 

 gave authority which have been recognized 

 by individual recipients and by the world, 

 as logic and truth. Every scientist and stu- 

 dent of natural history is well acquainted 

 with the Smithsonian Institution. Its im- 

 mense and valuable collections of birds, 

 birds' eggs, mammals, and almost every 

 description of object in the fauna of North 



