136 Notes and News. [lan 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Dr. J. A. Allen finding that his health demanded rehef from some of 

 his numerous responsibihties, has been forced to resign the editorship of 

 The Auk, and the Council of the American Ornithologists' Union, at the 

 recent meeting in Philadelphia, chose Mr. Witmer Stone as his successor. 

 Simultaneous with Dr. Allen's retirement Mr. Frank M. Chapman resigned 

 as Associate Editor. 



Beginning with the initial volume of the Bulletin of the Nuttall Orni- 

 thological Club, and continuing to the present year. Dr. Allen has, without 

 intermission guided the course of this journal and its successor The Auk; 

 and the series of thirty-six volumes stands as a perpetual monument to 

 his ability, and his painstaking devotion to the cause of ornithology and 

 the interests of the American Ornithologists' Union. There have been few 

 continuous editorships of equal length in the history of scientific periodicals. 



Dr. Allen has kindly agreed to see the present number, already partly 

 under way, through the press, but hereafter all articles and communications 

 intended for publication and all books and publications for notice should 

 be sent to Mr. Witmer Stone, Academy of Natural Sciences, Logan Square, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



The rapid decrease in the number of bird collectors is a matter that has 

 attracted the serious attention of ornithologists in the past few years. It 

 is certainly true that there are to-day, very few young men engaged in 

 forming a collection of bird-skins, formerly regarded as a sine qua non to 

 the development of an ornithologist. So serious has this matter appeared 

 to some, that it has been suggested that the A. O. U. Committee on the 

 Protection of North American Birds might well be changed to a Committee 

 for prevention of the extermination of North American ornithologists. 

 The abandonment of collecting is charged to the stringency of the State 

 laws, some of which make the acquirement of a collecting permit impossible, 

 while others impose such limitations as to make it useless for scientific 

 purposes. The Audubon Societies have been blamed for this condition of 

 affairs, but we believe wrongly. In practically all of the bills endorsed by 

 the Audubon Societies proper provision is made for scientific collecting, 

 but the legislative committees and State game conmissions, without ade- 

 quate knowledge of the needs of ornithology, have frequently altered the 

 bills, or so administered the laws, as to make the procuring of a permit 

 difficult or impossible. 



On the other hand it often happens that among those who have secured 

 permits in the past there are some who have displayed little or no sympathy 

 with citizens who prefer live birds to dead ones, and armed with their 

 permits they have carried on collecting close to houses and grounds in a 

 manner which has made them very obnoxious. These men are naturally 



