14 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 1 



I congratulate its management ui^on the suc- 

 cessful termination of the sixteenth vol time, and 

 doubt not future numbers of the little journal 

 will be quite as indispensable to the ornitholo- 

 gist as well as those interested in other 

 branches familiar to the naturalist. I heartily 

 concur with the views expressed in one of the 

 December editorials to the effect that the Ok- 

 NiTHOLOGiST AND OoLOGiST should not be 

 " exclusively scientific," but that its columns 

 should be open to other branches of natural 

 history and "items that make us smile." This 

 latter brings the reader into close sympathy 

 witli the author and renders the features of tlie 

 paper more susceptible of general interest, 

 while many subjects treated will of tlieir own 

 nature require the introduction of sufficient 

 scientific matter to please those whose tastes 

 run in that direction. 



I have recently mounted an Albino Blue J;iy 

 and would be glad to know if any readers of 

 the O. & O. ever came across one of tlie kind. 

 This specimen is of a rich ci'eam color and I 

 regard it quite an acquisition to my collection. 

 I have also mounted several white stjuirrels 

 killed in this neighborhood. 



AVas much amused at a case of mistaken 

 identity which occurred Wednesday night in 

 my poultry yard. A hunter having "tipped 

 the wing" of a large Bald Eagle sent the bird 

 to me to be mounted. As its wounded wing 

 just barely prevented its flying at the time, and 

 appeared to be healing so rapidly, the unfortu- 

 nate bird was placed in an ordinary hen coop, 

 fed and given a little longer lease of life. But 

 night before last some unknown genius visited 

 the chicken yard in question and adroitly un- 

 twisted the wire fastening on the door of the 

 coop. In this was quietly perched the eagle — 

 in full feathers and war paint, — no doubt 

 dreaming of freedom or the honor the Amer- 

 ican people put upon his tribe by placing him 

 uijon a ten-dollar gold piece and then giving it 

 his name. He was then and there snatched 

 from his only i^innacle of fame and forthwith 

 entered a vigorous protest. American bird, he 

 believed in civil and social rights and did not 

 intend to be handicapped by the rough hand 

 of oppression without making his power 

 known. The niglit was dark Morn- 

 ing's gray dawn visited the poultry yard and 

 disclosed the meaning of the situation. The 

 proud bird was still master and enjoying the 

 liberties of a large yard, out of which he had 

 evidently not tried to make his escape. Me 

 returned quietly to his throne in the coop audi 



seemed chagrined to have been mistaken for 

 the most timid of birds, — a common turkey. 



It would be interestijig to know the other 

 side of the case. Mr. Snatchem Atnight no 

 doubt was chuckling to himself when he found 

 notliing but a wire fastening on the door — 

 easily removed. He felt a magnificent speci- 

 men of fowl, and his mouth watered at the 

 prospect of a turkey dinner for Christmas day. 

 But was it the "old boy" in a feathery suit 

 and a forked tongue that he was gently propos- 

 ing to remove, which lacerated his hands and 

 stamped upon his mind indelibly the eighth 

 commandment? 



J. E. Tylur. 

 Easton, Md. 



[Some three years since we had an Albino 

 Blue Jay, white as a bird could be. On the 

 wings a faint tracing in white could be seen of 

 the usual markings. — Ed.] 



New Publications. 



Fremde Eier im Nest. Another Bird's Egg 

 in the Nest. 

 Tlie above is the title of a unique work re- 

 cently published by Paul Leverkuhn, C. M., 

 A. O. U., C. M. Z. S., etc., of Munich, and of- 

 fered to American collectors through his agent, 

 A. E. Pettit, 15 Cortlandt street. New York, 

 A handsome volume printed on super calen- 

 dared pai)er and bound in antique paper. Tlie 

 author, well known in Germany as an orni- 

 thologist, discusses what is to us a somewhat 

 novel ornithological subject; the behavior of 

 parent birds against eggs not deposited by 

 themselves in their nest, but introduced by 

 other birds of the same species or another one, 

 or by men. He gives a mass of detail under 

 each head of the four divisions, into which he 

 divided his theme, and he takes from the 

 American literature which he knows in a sur- 

 prising manner. All little journals are searched 

 and investigated. Our brother ornithologists 

 in Europe spoke in the highest pride and ac- 

 knowledgment of the work, and in the Edin- 

 burgh newspapei', the Scotsman, wiites in his 

 review of books: "Mr. Paul Leverkuhn has 

 studied the matter with a care that goes to the 

 ground of it and seems to leave nothing to be 

 done by a successor." Similar criticisms ap- 

 peared in tiie Ibis, Zool. Garden, Ornith. 

 Monthly, Nature, Feathered World, Helios and 

 many other periodicals. We would recom- 

 mend this volume as a valuable addition to 



