44 



THE OSPREY. 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted 

 Exclusively to the Interests of 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



EDITED BV 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON. 



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. Post- 

 age paid to all countries in the Universal Postal Union. 



Advertising rates sent on request. 



Notes and News of a relevant nature, and original contributions 

 are respectfully solicited, and should be addressed to Editors 

 at office of publication. 



Copy for advertisements and all matter for publication should 

 be in the publisher's hands by the fifteenth of the month pre- 

 ceding publication. 



The resident locality of contributors are given when nature of 

 article requires it. 



Entered at the Oalesburg Postoffice as mail matter of the 

 second class. 



Address all business communications to 



THE OSPREY CO., 



217 Main Street, GALESBURG, lEL. 



NOVEMBER, 1896. 



With this issue Walter Adams Johnson 

 assumes entire editorial charg^e of this publi- 

 cation Dr. A. C. Murchison has kindly lent 

 his aid in maturing- the young- Ospkkv. and 

 now. thoug^h not nominally connected with 

 Thk Ospk i-.v, his keen interest, g-ood will and 

 occasional writing-s will still aid the mag-azine 

 in its onward fiig-ht No chang-e is made 

 in the financial basis of The Osprey Company, 

 which will continue as before 



The sportsmen of Texas have lately taken 

 a very commendable action, which has for its 

 object the protection of the g-ame and song- 

 birds of their state. The preservation of the 

 flocks of ducks and g-eese, and of the myriads of 

 wading- birds, rests larg-ely with the residents 

 of Texas, and the protective course mapped 

 out by a convention of its citizens held recently 

 at Waco, will, if followed out, lead to more 

 lasting results than will the efforts of the 

 people of many other states combined. 



Texas is the winter home of vast flocks of 

 wild fowl. The birds are pursued tirelessly 

 and relentlessly by market hunters from the 

 moment they arrive from their breeding 

 grounds until they start Northward again on 

 the spring migration. The ducks and geese 

 are shot at nig-ht by the aid of dazzling- lights 

 backed by swivel guns which turn legitimate 

 sport into slaughter. Snipe and phjver are 

 hunted in their meadow and marsh homes so 

 persistently that they are barely allowed feed- 

 ing time. One of the delegates to the Waco 



convention told of the shipment in one day of 

 400,000 plover from one Texas town. 



A game law was framed by the deleg-ates to 

 the convention, and it was dec'ared that its 

 passage and signing had been assured. It 

 forbids the shipping of any game whatsoever 

 out of the State, and provides a heavy penalty 

 for the law's infraction. Needed restricticjns 

 are placed on the number of birds one man may 

 kill, and the size of guns and the hours for 

 shooting are limited. The enforcement of this 

 law will insure the rapid increase of the game 

 supply of the country and will preserve to the 

 people a valuable adjunct to their food supply 

 for years to come. 



David Starr Jordan, president of the Leland 

 Stanford Junior University, is talked of at 

 Washington as the man best fitted to succeed 

 the late Prof. Goode as Assistant Secretary^ of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and Director of 

 the National Museum President Jordan, 



however, is contented where he is; but for all 

 that it is said his name will be considered when 

 the Regents meet in January, and an effort 

 made to change his determination. As Mr. 

 Jordan gets $10,000 a year where he is, and the 

 museum pay's its director only S4,500, there 

 would seem to be small chance for the effort to 

 succeed. It appears to be conceded that a nat- 

 uralist will be chosen, although an ethnologist 

 is among those mentioned for the place. 



Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, president of the 

 Board of Police Commissioners of New York 

 City, writes in a recent letter, "The Ospkev 

 is a first rate little periodical." The students 

 of Knox College, in a mock election a few years 

 back, choose Mr. Roosevelt for President of the 

 United States: and they were not aware of his 

 being an ornithologist, either. 



Prof. M J. Elrod, of 111. Wesleyan University 

 sends us a series of excellent photos of the 

 Snowy Owl; also two of the Short-eared Owl. 

 These were taken by Prof. Elrod from live 

 birds that have been in his possession. They 

 show the birds in interesting attitudes and go 

 far to illustrate the importance of the camera 

 in ornithology. One of these will be published 

 in our cover for December. 



Publication Notes. 



Foreign subscribers will please note the 

 change in subscription made necessary- by the 

 cost of foreign postage to us. 



We have been unusually fortunate, of late, 

 in receiving many interesting and valuable ar- 

 ticles, and we only regret that all cannot be 

 published at once. 



The publishers of The Aick, through an over- 

 sight, republished our advertisement which ap- 

 peared in their issue of July. Two statements 

 were made incorrect through this late publi- 

 cation, namely: name of California Editor, 

 which should be Mr. D. A. Cohen: and as /he 

 Nidolcmisf has lateU' changed to an exclusive 

 ornitholog-ical magazine The Osprey is not the 

 only one as stated. 



