116 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 7-No. 15 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



—AND— 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED 

 TO THE STUDY OF BIRDS, THEIH NESTS AND EOaS. 



JOS. M. W.4DE, Kditnr. 



With the ci-operation of ahle Ornithological 

 Writers and ColleotorB. 



Subscription — SI. 00 per annum. Foreign sub- 

 scription $1 25— inchiding postage. Speci- 

 men Copies Ten Cents. 



JOK. M. WADE. 



Norwiclii Conn. 



EDITORIAL. 



Vol. tii. — Judging from the expression 

 of satisfaction sent lis, our readers, botli old 

 and new, must be well pleased with our mag- 

 azine. Tliis is very gratifying to us. but 

 our list of subscribers is not large enough 

 to pay cost even as now published. If all 

 of our readers would devote one tenth 

 part of the time we do gi-atuitously. they 

 would increase our list enough to warrant 

 improvements and save us from pecuniary 

 loss — which prevents us from doing as well 

 as we otherwise might. Let each of our 

 readers try and send us one or more sub- 

 scribers — our magazine will ahoays be 

 worth its cost. 



Snowy Owl. — We have recently pur- 

 chased a Snowy Owl that was mounted. 

 We complained of its neck being stretched 

 out too much, when the following explana- 

 tion was sent to us : •' You speak of the 

 neck of the owl being too long. The fact 

 is, when this bird is perched on a mound 

 on the gi-ound watching for its prey, its 

 neck is stretched out much longer than 

 this one, and remains so for an hour or 

 more at a time. They are not like other 

 owls in that respect. They also feed more in 

 the daj' time than other owls." The gentle- 

 man who sends the above has had a large 

 experience with this owl for many Winters 

 and should know their natural position. 

 Few of our taxidermists have ever studied 

 this bird in life. 



Death of H. G. Fowler. 



It is with exceeding sadness that we an- 

 nounce the death of our brother naturalist, 

 H. Gilbert Fowler. 



The greater part of Mr. Fowler's life 

 was closely identified with the study of 

 nature in nearly all her forms, but particu- 

 larly in that of Ornithology. Bom at Au- 

 burn, N. Y., about the year 1850, at an 

 early age he evinced a special fondness for 

 the study of Ornithology, which was pur- 

 sued almost entirely in the field with an 

 earnest, sincere spirit that bore fruits in 

 the reliable accuracj' and conscientious 

 simplicity of all his notes and memoranda. 



In 1874 he published in the " Forest and 

 Stream," (newspaper) a list entitled: "The 

 Birds of Central New York." In the fol- 

 lowing year this was republished in an 

 Auburn. N. Y., paper by Frank R. Rath- 

 bun, with several additions. He was also 

 one of the authors of the " Revised List 

 of Birds of Central New York." It was 

 the longing desire to study the feathered 

 creatures of our Southern States in their 

 native haunts that allured him into those 

 malarious districts that proved so fatal to 

 one of his peciiliar temperament. 



Mr. Fowler had been on the Sunflower 

 river. Miss., but little more than a week 

 when he deemed it advisable to depart, 

 owing to the illness of his companion. 

 They then took steamer for Cedar Keys, 

 Fla., via. New Orleans, La. Early contracts 

 ing malarial fevers while in Florida, in Mr. 

 Fowler's case, it resulted in typhoid fever ; 

 and, eventually, caused his death at Savan- 

 nali, Ga., while on his way home. 



The circumstances attending his death, 

 so far from home and among entu-e stran- 

 gers, was peculiarly sad. From an appar- 

 ent desire not to distress his many friends 

 and relations : although sick nearly two 

 weeks, news of his perfect good health, 

 his sickness and of his death followed one 

 after the other so swiftly as to be almost 

 simultaneous. 



