82 



Notes and News. 



January 



graph, I by no means wish it to be understood that I in any war under- 

 rate the significance of the 'notching' of the xiphoidal end of the sternum, 

 in the vast majority of the class Aves. 



One is both surprised and refreshed at the information conveyed in the 

 last foot-note of Mr. Lucas's paper (p. 451) ; — surprised from the fact that 

 the osteologist-in-chief of our great Government Museum at Washington 

 should be, up to the time of his writing the article he contributed to 'The 

 Auk,' ignorant of the opinions Dr. Parker has so ably presented us with in 

 his matchless "treatise on the Skull of yEgithognathous Birds"; and re- 

 freshed to think that that institution can lav claim to a mind among its 

 admirable staff of workers, in which it is evidently possible for opinions 

 to evolve, de novo, which compare so favorably with those held by living 

 masters in morphology. 



Very respectfully, 



R. W. Shufeldt: 

 Fort Wingate, X. Afex., 16th November, 18S6. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



At the recent meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union in 

 Washington, during the discussion of the subject of bird protection, 

 Mr. F. S. Webster spoke of the attitude of the members of the Union 

 toward taxidermists, which seemed, he thought, one of enmity rather 

 than of friendship. Mr. Brewster, in replying, said he was glad the 

 matter had been brought up, as it was evident that there was a serious 

 misapprehension of this subject on the part of taxidermists. He stated 

 that honest taxidermists as a class were respected by ornithologists, who 

 looked upon them as efficient and indispensable allies, and that the preva- 

 lent impression to the contrary was the outgrowth of malicious remarks 

 by certain enemies of the Union. Mr. Brewster believed in encouraging 

 true taxidermy, ami in granting collecting permits to all honest taxider- 

 mists. What ornithologists wished to prevent was the wholesale traffic 

 in birds for commercial purposes by men who had no claim to be 

 ranked as taxidermists, though they so styled themselves. It was only 

 the abuse of the privilege of collecting that ornithologists were striving 

 to prevent. 



Mr. Webster replied that the reason taxidermists felt aggrieved was the 

 wording of the law proposed by the A. O. U. Committee on Bird Pro- 

 tection, which was such as to practically prohibit even legitimate taxi- 

 dermy. He would be glad to see the Union take a stand in the matter 

 that would remove the existing feeling of antagonism between ornitholo- 

 gists and taxidermists. 



The President being then called upon to express his views on the matter 

 in question, stated that ths proposed law was not intended to cripple 



