November 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



171 



ORNlTHOLOGlST.^'^OdLOGlST 



A Monthly Magazine of 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTEr> TO THE STUDY OF 



BIRDS, 



THEIK NESTS AND EdGS, 



and t(i the 



INTERESTS OF NATURALISTS. 



Under the Editorial .Munajcenient of 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, 

 J. PARKER NORRIS, 

 FRANK A. BATES, 



Hyde Park, Mass. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Boston, .Mass. 



PUBLISHED AT THE 



MUSEUM AND NATURALISTS' SUPPLY DEPOT 



OF THE 



FR.lXIv BLAKE WEBVI'ER COMP.\NY, 



IN-C'>KP'>KATED, 



HVDE Park, .Mass., U. S. a. 



The O. & O. is mailed each issue to every paid sub- 

 scriber. If you fall to receive it, notify us. 



Brief Notes. 



Some of tlie papers are flisciissing tlie use of 

 the gown by rdUege students. Hou would 

 straight jackets do "? 



Now that the McKinley bill is in good work- 

 in'4 order and we have lo pay higher for many 

 things, how would it do for the taxidermists 

 to increase their ])rices? 



No wonder that fine work is done in some of 

 the museums, — the time tliat tlie workmen 

 take would ruin a business concern. 



A small Doe's head mounted with antlers 

 makes a very pretty fancy piece. 



.Another Ring-billed (iull sent in to us from 

 Cape Cod, Oct. lilth. 



The first Rocky Mountain (;oat of the sea- 

 son reaches ns from Alaska. 



Henry E. Uerrv, publisher of the Hittfrn, 

 called on ns a few days since. 



One Albino Chipmunk w-as brought in to 

 us to preserve, Oct. ITtli. Tlie stripes were of a 

 liglit buff color. 



Woodcock shooting during the second week 

 in October was good, — so says W. W. Castle, 

 wlio secured and sent us seven dozen from 

 Maine. 



Mr. Vickary of I,vnn, M iss , reports on 

 authority of Dr. C. Cobb of Montague, Mass., 

 that a pair of jiure white albino Tree .swal- 

 lows built in the doctors bird house three 



years ago, and when the nest was built a flock 

 of English Sparrows came and drove them off, 

 but not without a fight on the part of the 

 .Swallows. 



'".J. .1. .Vudubon, animal iiaiuter. Celetirated 

 for being the first ornithological painter of the 

 age and for having brought to its completion 

 the largest sized collection of plates of birds 

 ever published. 



1 The Birds of America, .5 vols., Svo., atlas 

 folio. 



2. Ornitholofjical Bioyraphy. 



'A. Synopxix of the Biidx of North America, 

 1 voh, Svo., London, 1839. 



Of the first of these publications we have 

 already spoken in terms of unqualified praise, 

 and we rejoice it has been brought to a 

 completion, although its enormous expense 

 precludes us from possessing, and consequently 

 from consulting, it. We cannot, however, 

 speak in equal terms of approval of the biog- 

 rajiliy, which is confessedly only a field 

 naturalist, not a scientific one. 



[It is sinjrular how two minds, possessing the same 

 tastes, can tie so diversified as lo differ in toto respect- 

 ing the very same objects. During the whole time of 

 .Mr. Audubon's residence in Paris he only visited the 

 Ornithological Gallery twice, (where I was studying 

 lor hours, almost daily), for the purpose of calling upon 

 me; and even then lie merely bestowed that sort of 

 passing glance at the maynifii^ent cases of birds which 

 a careless oliserver would, in sauntering into the room.] 



He can shoot a bird, preserve it and make it 

 live again, as it were, upon canvas: but he 

 cannot describe it in scientific, and therefore 

 in perfectly intelligible, terms. Hence he 

 found it necessary, in this |)art of his work, to 

 call in the aid of others, but. being jealous tliat 

 any other name should appear on the title 

 page than his own, he was content with the 

 assistance of some one who, very good- 

 naturedly, would fall in witli his h unior. Thus, 

 in a scientific point of view, the character of 

 the twt) publications are very different. From 

 the same cause, also, we must attribute the 

 frequent introduction of young birds, as new 

 species discovered by himself. A want of 

 precision in his descriptions, and a general 

 ignorance of modern t)ruithology, sadly dis- 

 appoint the scientific reader; all which are 

 discerned in the Biography and are very 

 striking in the Synojixis. where he rejects 

 established names, (as Mylodoctes for Syhicola: 

 several other of >h-. Audidmn's new genera, I 

 am obliged to confess, are (piite unintelligible 

 to me), and coins new ones of his own. The 

 letier-press, however, i- relieved by a series of 

 w'ell-written episodes illustrating the manners, 

 the habits and the scenery of North Ameriia 

 and its inhabitants. We only suspect that Mr. 

 Audubon participates in the almost universal 

 blemish of his countrymen, in coloring his 

 narration (not his paintings) somewhat too 

 highly. He has. we believe, returned to live 

 upon his property in the United States; but 

 one of his sons is settled in London as an 

 artist, and will, no doubt, inherit something 

 of his fathei"s pictorial talents.'' 



The above little send-otT is found on p.age 

 1 16. Bioijraphy of Zooloyists. by William 

 Swainson. published in London, 1.S40. .\udn- 



