98 



TH£ 00L0QI8T 



You know that from time to time, 

 some great (?) and learned (?) critic 

 jumps upon the neck of the oologist, 

 and the more ignorant the critic seems 

 of tlie subject in liand, tlie more ve- 

 hement his tirade. All this is dis- 

 couraging to many good observers and 

 some of the best of oologists, who 

 have been given to go about their 

 work with a' sparing hand, and with a 

 conscience clear and worthy an hon- 

 est worker. 



Only when one has the experience 

 in a matter in hand, has he any just 

 cause to tell the public it is just so 

 and so. Hence, whenever I read any- 

 thing of the sort savoring of the ig- 

 norance just allued to, I continue 

 about my business unmoved. 



This was the case when in Decem- 

 ber 1898 Osprey, I sa^w a wonderful 

 criticism of one of my little pamph- 

 lets, describing my Chicago World's 

 Fair collection of eggs. I just let the 

 gent have his say and cool off. But 

 in the very next issue of the same 

 magazine, appeared an article by me, 

 on "The Nesting of the Black and 

 White Warbler," in which the pub- 

 lisher gave a nice setting page 71, atid 

 left little to console Mr. F. HK. But 

 holy gee! the correspondence the 

 original review brought out. Just 

 see these pages for reference, Dec. 

 1898, page 62. Feb. 1899, page 85. 

 Mar. 1899, page 107. May 1899, page 

 139. Sept. 1899 Ed. page 6, same is- 

 sue page 11. Oct. 1899, page 27. 



On the last named page, Knowlton 

 ate much of his own mud pie, and 

 give way for Norris' excellent defence 

 of collecting in series. 



Now, I honestly Delieve that the 

 worst of abuse which the oologist has 

 stood for in the past, is passing, and 

 the study of birds in the oological 

 way will be looked upon with more 

 favor in the coming years, and think 

 these remarks of mine may be out of 



place just at this time to bolster up 

 those who are worthy, and who dis- 

 like to receive the slurs usually 

 heaped upon the oologist. 



J. Warren Jacobs. 



Oakfield, Wis. 



I would like to know what has be- 

 come of the several birds that were 

 very common here 40 years ago, when 

 I moved on my prairie farm in 1879. 

 Dickscissel were singing from every 

 clump of willow brush and nests were 

 quite often found and in two or three 

 years they disappeared and I haven't 

 seen but one since. 



For a number of years Horned 

 Larks were very common arriving 

 about the middle of February and 

 feeding in the roads, and in the last 

 twenty years I have seldom seen one. 



In those early days hundreds of 

 Snow Buntings and Lap Land Long- 

 spurs were here. Practically all have 

 disappeared, and it was not on ac- 

 count of collectors or hunters and 

 practically none were shot and not 

 one nest in a hundred collected. 



Delaos Hatch. 



Books Received 



Guide to the Summer Birds of the 

 Bear Mountain Park, sections of the 

 Palisades Interstate Park, by P. M. 

 Silloway. This little volume of 

 105 pages illustrated by 33 halftones 

 and 1 map is issued in 1920 by the 

 New York State College of Forestry. 

 It has three general sub-divisions, a 

 description of the country there, a 

 suggestion for the study of birds 

 there and a list of the birds observer, 

 this latter livided into three sections. 



The entire production shows the 

 usual Silloway thoroughness, an inti 

 mate knowledge of the matter treated 

 of. Few exceed O. P. as a field re- 

 search man and almost none as a des- 

 criptive writer. Editor. 



