April, 1S93.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



57 



The "World's Fair" is to be a wonder- 

 ful show, and we should all be very proud 

 of it. And we are proud of it. However, 

 we should, individually and collectively, try 

 lo support it by uprightness, and an earnest 

 desire to have nothing misleading. The 

 present tendency is to overdo matters and 

 to assume preposterously. As an instance I 

 may cite one of two cases which personally 

 came to my notice. 



The commissioners of a neighboring State, 

 who were intent on making a great exhibit 

 from their section, undertook to give a 

 representation of the fish-eating animals of 

 that State. Finding themselves short of 

 material, I was requested to supply certain 

 birds, and furnished them twenty-seven 

 species of fish-eating birds from my locality. 

 These birds are to be exhibited as represen- 

 tatives of that State, although they came from 

 Michigan. 



Another matter worth criticising is the 

 article or tabulated notes on page 29. I 

 have no ill feeling toward the writer of page 

 29, but I feel sure that I am voicing the 

 sentiments of the large majority of the 

 readers of the " O. & O." in saying that we 

 have had altogether too many notes of this 

 kind in the last few years. A simple list of 

 eggs, giving the size of sets and the number 

 of eggs in a collector's cabinet, sounds idle, 

 vapid, and surely is emphatically nonsensi- 

 cal. A reader cannot help but think that 

 the writer is making a spread of his collec- 

 tion without being able to add anything to 

 the advantage of his studies. Sco/opax. 



[The writer of the above criticism, "Scolo- 

 pax," does a great injustice to Mr. Thomas 

 H. Jackson, a list of whose Warblers' eggs 

 was given on page 29 of the February Orni- 

 thologist AND OoLOGiST. Mr. Jackson did 

 not compile the list in question, and the 

 responsibility of having done so rests with 

 me. 



I thought it would be interesting to the 

 readers of this journal to have lists of por- 



tions of the celebrated oological collections 

 in the United States, and the communica- 

 tions that have been received from numerous 

 subscribers convinces me that I was correct 

 in the view I took of the matter. That 

 "Scolopax" does not like them is unfortunate, 

 but then every one does not think alike. 



He is entirely mistaken in assuming that 

 the lists are published in any spirit of glori- 

 fication, for besides being interesting to 

 many readers they sene a useful purpose, in 

 that they show the average number of eggs 

 laid by a bird ; this average being derived 

 from the comparison of the numbers in each 

 set. — J. P. N.] 



J. ^^'. Jackson, Belchertown, Mass., re- 

 ceived on April 13 a Great Blue Heron and 

 Loon, on April 8 a Common Tern.- He 

 states that two Otters were taken during the 

 winter. 



Cold Weather Notes from Stephen- 

 town, New York. 



We had an abundance of cold, cloudy and 

 windy weather during November, with num- 

 erous squalls and flurries of snow, the rainfall 

 for the month being very light. The pre- 

 vailing weather throughout December was 

 bright, crisp and cold ; no snow to speak cf 

 in this locality. 



One belated Robin seen November 12, 

 Tree Sparrows came on November 2, and 

 abundant from date of arrival. 



Last ^^'oodcock recorded November 2. 

 PhiloJicla minor in this locality is doomed 

 to the same fate as the Ruffed Grouse — ex- 

 termination — unless given better protection, 

 or the mmiber of market hunters reduced. 



Red-tailed Hawks noted every few days. 

 I surprised a fine old male eating a late 

 Thanksgiving dinner No\ember 26 ; he was 

 dining on a large plum]3 chicken. 



First Snow Buntings December 5 ; a flock 

 of about one hundred. 



I ha\ e looked in vain among the flocks of 



