THE OSPEEY. 



25 



THE OSPREY. 



All Illustrated Maj^aziae of Popular OrniLhology. 



Published Monthly, 



By 



THE OSPREY COMPANY. 



Krlited by Themlo-e Gill in collaboration with Robert 

 RidKWiiy, rjttonhiirdSiejaeupr, Frederic A. Luims. ('harles 

 W. Richmond. Paul Hartsch, VVilliani Palmer and Harry 

 C. Oberholser of Washington, and Witmer Stone of Phila- 

 delphia. 



Contributions of a relevant nature are respectfully soli- 

 cited, and should be addressed to The Ospkey Company, 

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Vol. IV. OCTOBER, 1890, No, 2. 



Comments. 



New Editors. 



As announced in the preface of the preceding 

 volume, we have made arrang'ements with several 

 disting'tiished gentlemen to co-operate in the 

 editing of the OsprEv for the ftiture. We take 

 great pleasure in now introducing them to our 

 stibscribers. 



Their names are well-known to the readers of 

 the Ospkey as well as to ornithologists generally, 

 and with some of them at least, many of our 

 friends are personally acquainted. The gentle- 

 men are Mr. Robert Ridgway, the curator of the 

 Department of Birds of the National Museum; 

 Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, the ctirator of the De- 

 partment of Reptiles, and especially eminent 

 as an ornithologist; Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, 

 curator of the Department of Comparative Ana- 

 tomy, whose articles on the classification of va- 

 riotis types are so much esteemed by ornitholo- 

 gists; Dr. Charles W. Richmond, assistant 

 curator of the Department of Birds; Mr. Paul 

 Bartsch ancf Mr. William Palmer, also of the 

 National Museum, and Mr. Harry C. Oberholser 

 of the Department of Agriculture, all of Wash- 

 ington. Further, Mr. Witmer Stone, who has 

 charge of the ornithological collections of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 at one time the most complete in the world, will 

 also kindly act as an associate editor. The co- 



operation of fTlese gentlemen will give a maga- 

 zine alike useful to the scientific ornithologist 

 and to the inquiring amateur. The popular 

 side of ornithology, however, will be the main 

 feature of the journal for the future as it has 

 been in the past. 



CoNTKOVEKSV Ahoit Egc-Cot.i.ecTing. 



DifiFerence of opinion about the extent to 

 which egg-collecting may be indulged in .seems 

 to entail unusual animosity and vehemence of 

 expressioTi. We have received a number of 

 communications frf)m various gentlemen and 

 ladies for and against the stand taken by the 

 editor, as well as in the letters. 



The diflFerence between the parties to the con- 

 troversy is very slight. It is merely as to the 

 number of eggs which may be collected. It is 

 conceded by all that egg-collecting in modera- 

 tion is permissable. We .see no reason for modi- 

 fying the opinion expressed in the last number 

 of the magazine. In order to render full justice, 

 however, we have made room for a letter from 

 Mr. J. Parker Norris Jr. in refutation of some in- 

 cautious statements made in the heat of contro- 

 versy, and another from Dr. Knowlton of an 

 explanatory and exculpatorj' character. With 

 this (unless new issues are involved) the contro- 

 versy mtxst cease, so far as we are concerned. 



Natukai^ist-Collkctoks. 



In connection with the death of John White- 

 head, we have reproduced some interesting 

 passages from an article on "Pioneer Natural- 

 ists" in the Spectator of London. The Spectator, 

 however, undtily limits the function of the class 

 under consideration in the statement that "the 

 business of the naturalist-collector is to acquire 

 and bring back to the Museums of Europe new 

 or rare instances of animal life." All the other 

 continents now invoke and pay for his aid. 

 The United States commenced to do so earh' in 

 its history. Naturalists, such as Bartram, in 

 1790, who travelled and collected for their own 

 account, may be left out of consideration. 



But, as far back as 1819 and 1820, Major 

 Stephen H. Long, in his Expedition to the Rocky 

 Mountains, was accompanied by Thomas Say, 

 one of the most accomplished and versatile nat- 

 uralists of his age, who collected many un- 

 known birds which he afterwards named and 

 described. 



Almost all the expeditions in the "fifties" had 

 good collecting naturalists attached, and one of 

 them, then young and hearty, is still living and 

 a flourishing society, the Coooper Ornithological 

 Club, bears his honored name — James G. Cooper. 



