THE OSPREY. 



127 



peopling a realm which, without them, would be 

 oppressive in its dreary g-randeur, will reach 

 their breeding- places in a few weeks, and the 

 Terns, especially, are liable to be slaughtered 

 the moment they get there; therefore the 

 promptest action is necessary, if we are to save 

 even the few pairs of the latter which could 

 restock our devastated coast when the evil eye 

 of fashion shall have turned to other victims. 



Simple economic considerations make it a 

 matter of course that the Gull )Hust be saved. 

 An immense horde of them, which naturalists 

 think number anywhere from a hundred thous- 

 and to a million, gorge twice a day in New York 

 Bay upon garbage. As the hour of the "dump" 

 approaches, their multitudes fill the whole air 

 to an immense height, over an area of several 

 miles, then gradually settle on the sea in vast 

 white sheets. The whistle of the police boat, 

 the signal to "dump," seems to waft them simul- 

 taneously into the air, to gather, like dense 

 snow clouds, over the floating masses just 

 emptied from the many scows. 



Imagine from what an amount of putrid 

 matter these birds, as big as hens, save the ad- 

 jacent beaches, not to speak qf their perpetual 

 gleaning in the actual harborsl And this is a 

 specimen ot what occurs at every port. 



And shall this incalculable sanitary benefit, 

 and all this beauty terminate forever, and for 

 no worthy purpose? 



If money enough can be raised, the Committee 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union will 

 guard every breeding place where there is a law 

 to back them, as Mr. Mackay and Mr. Butcher 

 have done at Vineyard Sound Islands and Great 

 Gull Island. 



The utmost caution will be used in choosing 

 wardens, and the Committee will be glad to re- 

 ceive names of men especially suited for the 

 post. Light-house keepers and Life-Saving- 

 Station captains will be emplo^-ed wherever 

 feasible. 



A very encouraging sum is already' in the 

 hands of the Committee. 



The places to be protected are certain Islands 

 on the coast of Maine, Long Island, New 

 Jersej', Maryland, and perhaps Virginia and 

 Florida. 



In Maine alone there is need of all the monej^ 

 we can possibly get, since there single wardens 

 are afraid to face the rough plumers, and some 

 more elaborate organization is the only hope. 



The Death of Wii.hei,m Engelhard vox 

 NaThusius occurred at Halle on the 25th of 

 December, 1899. He was born on the 27th of 

 June, 1821. He was known to ornithologists 

 chiefly through his investigations on the struc- 

 ture and coloration of the egg-shells of birds. 



The Death of C.\non John Christopher 

 Atkinson was not premature inasmuch as he 

 had attained the age of nearly 86 years, having 

 been born in 1804, at Goldhanger in Essex He 

 died March 31, within a few weeks of the anni- 

 versary of his birthday. In the words of Nature, 

 (for April 5) "many generations of school bo3's 

 have derived their first interest in country 



matters from his still popular books" on "Eggs 

 and Nests of British Birds" (1861), and the con- 

 temporary volumes. Walks and Talks" [etc.] of 

 two schoolboys (1859), and "Play-hours and 

 Half-holidays" (1860), "all of which are still in 

 circulation." 



The Death of St. George Mivakt has oc- 

 cured in the midst of a heated controvers3' on 

 the relations of Roman Catholicism to science. 

 He died on the second of April, in London, 

 at the age of 73, having been born, also in 

 London, November 30, 1827. As an ornitholo- 

 gist, he was best known to most of the frater- 

 nity through his "Birds: the elements of Orni- 

 thology" published in 1892. He early instituted 

 original investigations, however, in the anat- 

 omy of various groups and its teachings. 



His principal contriVjutions to oriiitholog)^ are 

 "On the axial skeleton of the Ostrich" (1873), 

 the "Struthionidai" (1874) and the "Pelecani- 

 da;" (1877) in the Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society of London. Later he worked especially 

 on the Parrots and published "On the Hj-oid 

 Bone of certain Parrots" (P. Z. S., 1895, p. 162- 

 174), "On the skeleton of Lorius flavopalliatus 

 compared with that of Psittaciis erithacus" (P. 

 Z. S., 1895, pp. 312-337; 363-399), and "On the 

 Hyoid Bones of Nestor mcridionalis and Nano- 

 dh discotor (P. Z. S., 1896, p. 236-240). His 

 studies culminated in a beautiful illustrated 

 work — "A monograph of the Lories or Brush- 

 tongued Parrots, composing the famih' Loriida;. 

 With 61 plates. London: H. R. Porter. 1895." 



Dr. Mivart was born of protestant parents but 

 joined the Roman Catholic Church when 17 

 3'ears old (in 1844) and completed his scholastic 

 education at St. Mary's College. Oscott. instead 

 of at Oxford where it was intended he should go 

 till his conversion. He became Professor of 

 Biology in University College, Kensington, in 

 1884, and later, for a short time, was also Pro- 

 fessor of the Philosophy of Natural History in 

 the famous Belgian Catholic University of Lou- 

 vain from which he received the degree of M. 

 D. in 1884. Within the past few months he 

 become alienated from the church of Rome by 

 the publication of heretical articles in the 

 "Nineteenth Century" and "Fortnightly Re- 

 view" for January, 1900, in which he repudiated 

 papal infalibility and complete inspiration for 

 the Bible. In his opinion "the great peril which 

 Catholicity now runs is occasioned "by the deep 

 and appalling disregai'd for, if not sometimes 

 positive aversion to, scientific truth which is ex- 

 hibited by Christian advocates, and, high above 

 all. by the Roman Curia." For such and other 

 like utterances and ideas. Dr. Mivart was "in- 

 hibited by Cardinal Vaughn — a sentence equiv- 

 alent to temporary excommunication." He was 

 therebv to be deprived of the sacraments until 

 he should have recanted, and was called upon to 

 sign a long formula or profession of faith pre- 

 pared for him. He refused to do so and even the 

 threat of excommunication did not seem to terrify 

 him. In the last article but one which has come 

 to our notice — "Scripture and Roman Catho- 

 licism" — in the Nineteenth Century for March 

 (p. 425-442) he concludes with the assertion "that 

 there is 'till Infallibility is repudiated, an ab- 

 solute, impenetrable barrier between the domain 



