180 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 7-No. 23 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



—AND— 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTULY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO 

 THE 8TUDT OP BIRDS, THEIR NESTS AND EOGS. 



jros. M. WADE, EDlTOIi, 



With the co-operation of able Ornithological 

 Writers and Collectors. 



Subscription — iXMiper annum. Fornrjn subscrip- 

 tion $1.25 — including] pottage. Specimen 

 Copies Ten Cents. 



JOS. M. WADE, Boston, Mass. 



Edwin Sheppard, the Artist. 



In C. H. M's. able review of Gentry's 

 Nests and Eggs in Bull. Nutt. Oru. Club, 

 the above artist comes in for a share 

 of criticism, and justly, from a Btranger's 

 standpoint. We have privatelj' called the 

 attention of Mr. Sheijpnrd to the defects of 

 the plates as they have progressed, and 

 we believe that they can hardlj- be 

 charged to him, certainly not the coloring. 

 The nests are bad, but why did Gentry 

 accept them ? Why did he not take the 

 artist out into the fields and show him the 

 nests as built? Why did he not bring 

 him fine specimens to draw from ? We 

 give it up, unless his whole mind was cen- 

 tered on that portr.tit which was to accom- 

 pany the last numbei- of his work, free of 

 extra charge. We made Mr. Sheppard's 

 acquaintance through the kindness of Mr. 

 Robert Ridgeway. He drew for us the 

 four I^ish JIawk and Jiald Eugh scenes 

 which have appeared on the cover of the 

 O. and O. ; also the Pigmy Owl, which ac- 

 companied Dr. Wood's article, and the 

 jiair of Great-horned Owls in small circu- 

 lar cut which has appeared in our adver- 

 tising column. We also employed him to 

 copy three of Audulion's largest paintings, 

 two in New York and one at Morestown, 

 N. J. They were of course reduced for 

 book work. He gave us perfect satisfac- 

 tion. He was recommended to us by Mr. 



Ridgeway as the best artist he knew to 

 paint birds in motion. We know him to 

 be one of our best artists and a thorough 

 gentleman. Unfortunately he has too lit- 

 tle of what Mr. Gentry has too nnich. 



Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club. 



The October number of the Bulletin is 

 l)efore us, and it contains two papers 

 which are of great interest to us and 

 should be to all ornithologists. We allude 

 to the review of Dr. Cones' New Check List 

 from the standpoint of a scientist by W. B., 

 and Gentry's Nests and Eggs of Birds of the 

 United States by C. H. M. Poor Gentry, 

 if he can stand the quotations made from 

 his own book by this writer, he is proof 

 against anything. We regret that we 

 have not space to quote these two able re- 

 views entire, but will give the closing 

 paragraph of one of them. 



" Enough has been said to show that 

 instead of becoming an authority worthy 

 of place amongst the standard works on 

 N. A. Ornithology, Mr. Gentry's book on 

 nests and eggs must inevitably find its 

 level alongside such unreliable and worth- 

 less productions as Jasper's Birds of 

 " North America" and similar trash. In 

 other words, instead of a woi-k of scientific 

 value, we have a popular picture book, well 

 adapted for the amusement of children." 



This was crowded out of our November 

 number. 



On Time, 10-12-82.— Chas. E Bellows, 

 Ph. G., whites : " Enclosed find $1.00 for the 

 next volume of the O. and O. I would 

 not be without it, and hope you will have 

 a large increase of subscribers for your 

 next vohime. Everything is so OrUjinal 

 that it is worth twice the price j^ou ask for 

 it." We receive lots of good words of this 

 kind, and as it is a volunteer magazine, we 

 ask our readers to spend a little time in 

 trying to induce one more subscriber. 

 We regret to liave to say that the present 

 volume has not paid its own cash outlay. 



