THE OSPEEY. 



13 



THE OSPREY. 



Aii Illustrated Magazine of Popular Ornithology. 

 Published Monthly, 

 By 

 THE OSPREY COMPANY. 



Edited by Theodore Gill in collaboration with Robert 

 Ridgway, LeonhardStejneger, Frederic A. Lucas. Charles 

 W. Richmond. Paul Bartseh, William Palmer and Harry 

 C Oberholser of Washington, and Witmer Stone of Phila- 

 delphia. 



Contributions of a relevant nature are respectfully soli- 

 cited, and should be addressed to The Osprey Company, 

 321-323 4^ Street N. W-, Washington, D. C. 



Subscription : In the United States. Canada and Mexico, 

 One Dollar a year, in advance. Single Copies, Ten Cents. 



Foreign Subscription: One Dollar and Twenty-five Cents. 

 Postage paid to all countries in the Postal Union. 

 Advertising rates sent on request. 



Entered as secoad-class matter, by The Osprey Com- 

 pany at the Washington. D. C, Post Office. 



September and October 1900. 



Comments. 



A NEW VOLUME. 



We again enter into a new volume of The 

 Osprey — the fifth of the series. The same 

 editors will attend to its interests and add to its 

 interest. The features that have been pro- 

 nounced to be most interesting in the past 

 volume are the personal notices and biographies. 

 These, consequently, will be continued and per- 

 haps amplified in the new one. 



swainson's correspondence. 



The biography of William Swainson was in- 

 tended originally to be completed in four num- 

 bers, but the materials for the undertaking were 

 found to be so entertaining- and important for 

 the history of ornithology and zoology generally 

 that we have willingly yielded to the requests of 

 subscribers to the magazine and enlarged its 

 scope. It will be continued through several 

 numbers more— how many will depend on cir- 



cumstances. It is an interesting coincidence 

 that recently the Linnean Society of London 

 has obtained a large collection of letters cover- 

 ing part of the correspondence of Swainson, or 

 rather with Swainson, from his youth to the 

 period of his departure from England for his 

 New Zealand home. It is reported that this cor- 

 respondence was purchased from a daughter of 

 Swainson, who had returned to England, for 

 the sum of 50 pounds— about 250 dollars— and 

 that in the negotiation for its transfer Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, who, when a young man, like 

 his father knew Swainson and was a friend. 

 At nearly the same time as Swainson, Sir 

 Joseph saw New Zealand, but as an attache 

 (assistant surgeon) of the celebrated exploring 

 expedition to the Antarctic regions commanded 

 by Sir James Clark Ross, and not as a colonist. 

 This correspondence is said to be very interest- 

 ing and important from a historical point of 

 view. It includes many letters from Audubon 

 and other American naturalists, and some of 

 them are said to be very critical of Audubon. 

 The entire correspondence has been put in order, 

 arranged underwriters' names, and duly ticketed 

 or briefed by Dr. Albert Giinther; it will be the 

 subject of his address as retiring president of 

 the Linnean Society. We hope to be able to 

 secure the use of part of the correspondence for 

 the biography now being published in The 

 Osprev. 



osprey correspondence. 



The correspondence and business of The 

 Osprey has increased to such an extent as to 

 seriously interfere with the engagements of the 

 manager, and to some extent correspondence 

 has been neglected. We beg the pardon and ask 

 the indulgence of those that may have felt ag. 

 grieved on account of neglect. For the next 

 year a special manager has been engaged and 

 will attend to correspondence and other busi- 

 ness. 



POSTPONEMENT OF FUTURE NUMBERS. 



The issues of The Osprey for the next few 

 months will be delayed— partly to make the 

 magazine year correspond with the calendar 

 year. The current (fifth) volume will extend 

 through the entire year 1901. To enable this 

 to be done the first number will be for the 

 months of September and October; the second 

 for November and December. The full quota 

 of numbers (12) and the full number of pages 

 1 192) will be furnished. 



