148 



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 Llnion. 



British agent: Frank A. Arnold, Mersham, 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. 



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

 Galesburg Postoffice as second-class mail matter. 



THE OSPREY COMPANY. 



61 N. Prairie St. 



Galesburg, III. 



Before this issue of The Osprey leaves the office 

 the Editor expects to be enjoying a vacation out of 

 the city. The Editor's work nearly forbade his 

 absence this summer, and this fact has led us to the 

 consideration of a slight change in our order of pub- 

 lication, by which Volume 2 and succeeding volumes 

 would be published in ten numbers, omitting issues 

 in July and August This plan has been adopted in 

 coincidental cases, and is customary with the college 

 magazines. Whether Volume 2 is published in ten 

 or twelve numbers will make no difference in the 

 amount of matter given subscribers ; in either case 

 we expect to give more than we were able to offer in 

 Volume I — furthermore, it would be a matter of great 

 convenience to the Editor. However, we will not 

 decide to make the change without consulting the 

 wishes of our subscribers ; to this end we ask each 

 one, when writing, to express an opinion. 



We are certain of one or two surprises in the line 

 of "special features" for the fall numbers of The 

 Osprey. An unpublished drawing by Audubon, made 

 about the year 1812, has been secured through the 

 efforts of Dr. Coues and the kindness of Miss Maria 

 K Audubon, and we feel sure that a definite an- 

 nouncement can be made in September of one or two 

 others that will please our readers. The financial 

 outlook for our second volume is bright, and, with 

 prompt renewals from our subscribers, we anticipate 

 some fine numbers in the forthcoming months. 



Mr. W. S. Cobleigh, of Canton. 111., one of The 

 Osprey's pioneer friends, has taken wing for Los 

 Angeles, which place he is thinking seriously of mak- 

 ing his home. He stopped oft a day at Galesburg, 

 of course, before departing from the "Sucker" state 

 Mr. Cobleigh will not be lonesome in Southern Cali- 

 fornia for he looks forward with much pleasure to 

 meeting the "boys," whose acquaintance he cherishes 

 from former visits there. 



One of The Osprey's advertisements in two Na- 

 tural History magazines (printed at the same print 

 ing establishment,) read, by a printer's mistake, "25 

 cents for one year's trial subscription," instead of the 

 correct statement, "for three months." Needless to 

 say that no 25 cent subscriptions are accepted. 



Mr. Nelson W. Willard, of Galesburg, has been 

 awarded a $300 Harvard University scholarship by 

 the Harvard Club of Chicago The scholarship is 

 awarded annually to a graduate of some Illinois 

 College The local press speak of Mr. Willard as 

 an exceptionally brilliant young man and an apt 

 student. 



Mr. L. W. Nichols, of Somonauk, 111., gave The 

 Osprey office a pleasant call June 29 



Recent Literature. 



/'//,■ Birds of Colorado. By W. W. Cook. The 

 State Agricultural College, The Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station Bulletin No. 37, technical series No 

 2. 128 pages. F~ort Collins, Col.: March, 1897 



This excellent bulletin is a complete work on the 

 ornithology of the State up to the present date. The 

 major portion of the book is devoted to the annotated 

 list of the birds ; this is preceded by a Bibliography 

 and History of Colorado Ornithology ; also some mi 

 gration material, and an interesting classification of 

 the 360 species which is as follows : Residents, 87 ; 

 regular winter visitants from the north, 24 ; regular 

 breeders that sometimes occur in winter, 17 ; rare or 

 accidental winter visitants, 22; summer residents, 228, 

 {a) breeding on plains and in mountains loi, (/') breed- 

 ing on plains, but not on mountains, 34, (< ) breeding 

 on mountains, but not on plains, 53, (</) breeding 

 principally in mountains, sparingly on plains, 20, 

 (t) breeding regularly only in Southern Colorado, 20: 

 summer visitants, not known to breed, 15 ; migrants, 

 58 ; stragglers, 48 ; regular visitants from east and 

 southeast, 14 ; rare visitants from east and southeast, 

 33 ; regular visitants from west and southwest, 20 ; 

 rare visitants from west and southwest, 12. Except- 

 ing Nebraska, Colorado has a greater diversity of 

 listed species of birds than any other State in the 

 Union. This work of Prof. Cook's will undoubtedly 

 be a great aid to the future work. The publication 

 may be procured free of charge by addressing : Di 

 rector Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Col. 



One of the prettiest and most interesting of sports- 

 men's magazines is the Western Field and S/reain, 

 which makes its monthly visits to our office. It comes 

 from St. Paul, Minn., (John P. Burkhard, publisher,) 

 and is edited by that veteran sportsman and natural- 

 ist, Mr. Charles. Hallock. The Osprey is very for- 

 tunate in the fact that Mr. Hallock has chosen to 

 contribute articles to its pages occasionally. 



GorresDondence. 



To the Editor of The Osprey : 



In reference to Mr. Trostler's statement in the June 

 OspRE^, that he has taken Yellow-headed Blackbird's 

 nests built in "Wild Kice." in Iowa, Nebraska, South 

 Dakota, etc., would say that I still maintain my posi- 

 tion just as it reads in the May Osprey. If Mr. 

 Trostler will forward me a nest of this bird built in 

 Wild Rice I would be glad to pay all charges. Or he 

 can send such a nest to the Editor of The Osprey, 

 or send it to Frof Trelease, of the Shaw Botanical 

 Gardens of St. Louis, for identification of the plant 



It would, indeed, be of interest if this plant is so 

 much earlier west of the Mississippi than east of it 

 in about the same latitude. The Yellow-heads in 

 Southern Wisconsin have long since left their nests, 

 but the "Wild Rice" has not yet fairly formed the 

 stalks that we presume supports the nests Mr Trostler 

 speaks of. Ludwig Kumlien 



Milton College, Wis , July 6, 1897 



