Inuiom ilotes on llatuial liBtori). 



Vol. III. 



PROVIDENCE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1886. 



No. 9. 



Entered at the Providence Post-Offiee as Second-Class Matter. 



!]|anbom f olos on !f atural f iston|. 



A Monthly Devoted to the Distribution of Use- 

 ful Knowledge Conceknino the Various De- 

 partments OF Zoology. Mineralogy, and 

 Botany. 50 Cents a Year. 

 Address all communications to 



JAMES M. SOUTHWICK, 

 258 Westminster St., Providence, K. 1., U. S. A. 



An article has appeared in the OniUholo. 

 gist and Oologist, Vol. II., No. 8, touching 

 upon American taxidermists, and some opin- 

 ions adverse to their work, expressed b}^ 

 Montague Browne, F. L. S. 



We are all obliged to see things from our 

 stand-point, and I must quote my own ex- 

 perience, which is that, while I always or- 

 der the best, I can (with a few notable ex- 

 ceptions,) seldom obtain European skins 

 that average as fine as those made by 1113' 

 American collectors ; perhaps the best are 

 kept at home, and the seconds sent to the 

 American market. 



I freely admit that there are collectors in 

 America who make unsightly bird and 

 mammal skins, but the standard of quality 

 has very much improved during th6 past six 

 3'ears, and I can produce a score of Yankees 

 whose work in that direction cannot be sur- 

 passed the world over. 



It has been my experience to find collec- 

 tors who, from motives of economj', pre- 

 ferred to take the chances of ordering their 

 supply from the cheapest possible source, or 

 to follow the still more questionable polic}" 

 of exchanges, unloading frequently the 

 poorest stock they had to strangers, whose 

 ability as preparators was entirely unknown. 

 Surely such persons must not expect to ob- 

 tain for themselves the best commodities, 



JMy last and recent order from an En- 

 glish dealer was for a number of American 

 skins ; they were all selected from my 

 lowest quoted price, and a dealer's discount 

 expected beside. My best skins cannot go 

 to Europe on such terms. 



There are some queer problems connected 

 with the present movement for the protec- 

 tion of American birds. 



I note the fact that women who, from mo- 

 tives of utility, economy', or beauty, are in- 

 clined to wear plumes, wings, and birds 

 upon their costumes, are especially con- 

 demned ; and properly enough an appeal is 

 made to their emotions and their gentle sym- 

 pathy, to discard such ornaments. Perhaps, 

 however, it is not commonly known that for 

 the manufacture of a veiy large portion of 

 those ornaments, the plumage of domestic 

 fowls (d_yed in colors) is freely used ; also 

 the heads, wings, etc., of domestic pigeons 

 and game birds, otherwise waste products- 

 of our markets. 



I have patiently waited for some one to 

 appeal to the men. Audubon is said to 

 have regretted it after he had killed a bird. 

 It is to be doubted if some of our modern 

 sportsmen ever regret (though they do liold 

 stoutly and honesth' to the observing of le- 

 gal seasons), if they did they would be 

 ashamed to report so frequently through 

 well-known channels, strings of fish and 

 bunches of birds, killed certainly for the 

 pleasure of the slaughter, since, by a little 

 mathematical calculation, it would seem that 

 the requirements of the camp, the family, 

 or family and friends, must be greatly over- 

 supplied. 



The statement has been made that the 

 negroes of the South are killing for food, 

 every thing they can find, mocking birds 

 sharing the fate of other songsters, large and 

 small. If this is true, it is most unfortunate. 

 Yet it is possible that the food is needed in 

 many cases. The favored residents of our 

 cities do not need game for their sustenance, 

 and the usual high price places it beyond 

 the reach of the poor. 



I have knowledge of hundreds of ducks, 

 (shot in the season), and left to flutter on 

 the water, dying and dead, because they 

 were not fit to eat, not worth picking up, anil 

 of marsh birds killed and brought home, 

 smelling terribly ; they certainly were not 

 eaten, and could only be used to prove that 



