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THE OSPREY. 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Ornithology 



EDITED BY 



WALTER ADAMS JOHNSON 



ASSOCIATED WITH 



Dr. ELLIOTT COUES 



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. 



British agent: Frank A. Arnold, Mershain, Surrey, England. 

 Advertising rates sent on request. 



Notes and News of a relevant nature, and original contribu- 

 tions are respectfully solicited, and should be addressed to 

 the editor at the office of publication. 



Copyright, 1897, by The Osprey Company. Entered at the 

 Galesburg Postoffice as second-class mail matter. 



THE OSPREY COMPANY. 



5i N. Prairie St. 



Galesburg, III. 



''SK 



For some time past we have expected to give a 

 series of photographs of a personal nature : picturing 

 the American Osprey and its 

 homes in different parts of our 

 continent. For this month we 

 have secured a number of these 

 — not as many as we wished, 

 iuit others are expected to 

 be on hand for publication in 

 the July Osprey. Which issue 

 will also contain another repro- 

 duction of a Fuertes painting. 

 We have tried, this month, 

 to please, or, not displease, 

 our readers by appearing 

 promptly on the advertised date of publication — the 

 fifteenth of the month But the editor has other 

 duties besides the most pleasant one of editing The 

 Osprey and so we are again a little late. 



It is well known that the favorite food of the Can- 

 vas-back Duck is the tubers of wild celery. A few 

 years ago a large part of the best feeding ground in 

 the Upper Chesapeake was destroyed by a combina- 

 tion of strong winds and a heavy snowfall, which 

 was followed by severe cold. Exceptionally low 

 water was produced and ice formed on the exposed 

 flats, so that when the tide at last came in and lifted 

 it the plants were torn away and floated off. At a 

 meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, Mr. 

 F. B. Colville lately called attention to the fact that 

 the wild celery had been successfully transplanted to 

 Western Lakes, and that the Ducks now linger there 

 to feed in their migrations. He advocated the re- 

 stocking of the shallow water in the Chesapeake with 

 the wild celery. 



"Sketches of Some Common Birds" will be a 

 work written in a popular style by Prof. P. M. Sillo- 

 way, of Roodhouse, 111. The material, in part, is 

 articles by the author recently published in the St. 

 Louis G/o/>i'-Di iiiocrat. It will be issued by the 

 Editor Publishing Company, Franklin, Ohio, early 

 in the fall. Knowing as we do both the author and the 

 publishers, we feel quite sure of the book's success. 



The Los Angeles papers say that in the month of 

 April the heaviest consignment of Ostrich plumes 

 ever shipped from California was sent to Paris. The 



industry is no longer an experiment in California. 

 Already the business has an investment of $209,000, 

 which is likely to be augmented by a third within a 

 year. The sale of plumage this year from Ostrich 

 farms at Fallbrook, Coronado, Anaheim, Pasadena, 

 Pomona, and Santa Monica foot up to $190,000.. 

 The percentage of profit on the amount invested is 

 large enough to make the business profitable. 



Mr. Rufus H. Carr says: "Let me say for the 

 benefit of the readers of The Osprey that here in 

 Brockton, Mass., Chimney Swifts break off and carry 

 twigs with their feet. Here is a suggestion for Dr. 

 Coues: why not make a new species of the Swift's of 

 St. Joseph, Mo?" 



In our advertisement of the May Osprey we made 

 a mistake, which, though obvious in itself, we will 

 correct: Miss M. R Audubon is not the daughter, 

 but the grand-daughter, of John James "the great," 

 and a daughter of his eldest son, John Woodhouse 

 Audubon. 



The laws of Ohio, prohibiting the keeping of an 

 Eagle in captivity, prevented the management of a 

 Canton, Ohio, public park from caging a pair of 

 Eagles which were presented them by President Mc- 

 Kinley, from his collection of campaign trophies. 



A letter from Mr. Philo W. Smith, Jr., of St. Louis, 

 says that Mr. Otto Widmann has lately taken a 

 set of three eggs of the rare Bachman's Warbler ; 

 which set he presented to the United States National 

 Museum. 



The National Game, Bird, and Fish Protective 

 Association recently published " Destruction of Birds 

 for the Decoration of Ladies' Hats," by Dr. Morris 

 Gibbs, in leaflet form for distribution. 



Mr. C. Piper Smith, of Anderson, Ind., says he 

 can record a rare casual visitor: Mr. L. W. Brokaw, 

 of Carmel, Ind., called on him June 5. 



Dr. F. Henry Yorke, of Foosland, 111., is advertis- 

 ing a work that promises to be interesting, entitled, 

 ' ' Our Ducks." 



Mr. R. C. Woodhouse, of New York City, makes 

 a trip to Gull Island this month. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL BULLETINS. 



The May "Bulletin" of the Wilson Ornithological 

 Chaper of the Agassiz Association records the elec- 

 tion of some strong men as members. We congratu- 

 late the association in gaining Mr. Otto Widmann as 

 an Honorary Member. 



7 '/(■(' /o'coa Ornitliologist, the quarterly magazine of 

 the Iowa Ornithological Association, is filled with in- 

 teresting matter from cover to cover. Its editor, Mr. 

 David L. Savage, has been honored by a request from 

 the Midlmid Monthly to furnish a series of papers on 

 the "lairds of the Midland Region." Mr. Wm 

 Savage will draw illustrations to accompany the 

 articles 



The quarterly "Bulletin of the Michigan Ornitho- 

 logical Club" in its second number, issued about 

 June I, not only improves in many ways by the result 

 of experience, but enlarges to sixteen pages and as an 

 extra frontispiece plate publishes the portrait of Dr. 

 Elliott Coues. The product of this number goes to 

 show that the editors are untiring in their effort to 

 make a model ornithological bulletin ; and they are 

 certainly succeeding. 



