July 28, 1898] 



NATURE 



309 



now before us, the outcry against the havoc thus wrought is very 

 general and bitter. During the breeding season of the birds 

 that nest in the region indicated, an army of boys and men 

 takes the field, and sweeps through the thickets, the woodis and 

 the meadows, searching out the home of every nesting bird, 

 gathering in or destroying all the eggs that are found, and very 

 often shooting great numbers of the nesting birds. 



The outcry against the irresponsible, unscientific egg-and- 

 birdskin collectors is almost as great as that against the English 

 sparrow. They are the special enemies of the birds most useful 

 to agriculture— those which seek the privilege of making their 

 homes with us during at least one-half the year, and fighting the 

 noxious insects all through their summer campaign. The amount 

 of actual damage inflicted upon the farmers by those who collect 

 the eggs of insectivorous birds, and useful birds of prey, is un- 

 doubtedly great. Is it not time for egg-collecting to be brought 

 to a full stop, at least for five years ? 



Hunting Contests, or " Side" Hunts. 

 , Of all the influences now operating for the destruction of our 

 birds and mammals, the most outrageous is the so-called " side 

 hunt." A side hunt may properly be defined as a game of 

 murder, in which a body of particularly brutal (or thoughtless) 

 men, sometimes more than a hundred in number, and usually 

 known as a "gun club," choose sides, arm themselves with 

 guns and an unlimited quantity of ammunition, go forth on a 

 given day, and for a fixed number of days shoot many kinds of 

 wild creatures, " for points." At the close of the slaughter, the 

 victims are collected, counted according to the " points " agreed 

 upon for each species, and the side which has accomplished the 

 greatest amount of butchery is declared the winner. 



Species reported as " Extinct," or " Becoming 

 Extinct." 

 Matninah. 



Reports. 



" The larger quadrupeds, generally " 6 



Bison ; Buffalo {Bos americanus) ... ... ... 15 



'E\\i;\NA^\X.\.{Cervus canadensis) ... 22 



Moose {AAes amert'cana) 7 



Virginia or White-tailed Deer {Cariacus vir- 



ginianus) 32 



Mule Deer {Cariacus macrotis) ... ... ... 3 



B\a.ck-t&\\ed Deei {Cariacus colu/ndianus) ... I 



. Woodland CuriboM {A'angi/er caridou) ... ... 2 



Prong-horned Antelope {Antilocapra americana) 15 

 Mountain Sheep {Ovis moniana) ... ... ... 10 



Mountain Goat {Haploceros montamis) 2 



" Bears, generally"... ... ... ... I 



California Grizzly Bear {Urstis horribilis hor- 

 riaeus) ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 



'&[2ic)<. Bt&x {Ursus americanus) 15 



'^a.gxaa.T {Felis onca) ... ... ... ... ... I 



Puma ; Mountain Lion {Fe/is concolor) 6 



Red Lynx {Lynx rufus) 5 



Oner {Lu/ra canadensis) II 



Beaver (Castor canadensis) 22 



Birds. 



" All birds, generally " 3 



"Game birds, generally" (meaning gallinaceous 

 species) ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 



" Shore birds, generally " 5 



" Geese and ducks, generally " 20 



" Herons and egrets, generally " ; " plume birds " 12 



"Hawks, generally" 3 



" Owls, generally " 4 



Wild Turkey {Meieagris £a//opavo) 30 



Ruffed Grouse {Bonasa umbellus) ... ... ... 20 



Pinnated Grouse ; Prairie Hen ( Tympanuchus 

 americanus) ... ... ... ... ... 13 



HesiiU Hen {Tympanuchus cupido) I 



Passenger Pigeon {Ectopistes migratorius) ... 35 



BXue liixd {Sialia sialis) 15 



Carolina Paroquet ( CoMwrMj faro/j«^«w) ... 5 



Wood TtMcV. (Aix sponsa) 5 



Flamingo {Phainicoptenis ruber) I 



Roseate SiK)onbill (y(;a;rt aya/a) 3 



WTiite Heron {Ardea candidissima) ... ... lO 



Ivory-billed Woodpecker {Campephilus principalis) 4 

 VWe^X-ed Woodi^cker {CeophltEus pileatus) ... 4 



California Vulture {Pseudogryphtts califorttianus) I 



NO. 1500, VOL. 58] 



Decrease in Bird Life in Thirty States. 



(The shaded portions show the percentages of decrease 

 throughout the States named during the last fifteen years, 

 according to the reports.) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge.— Sir David Salomons, who founded in 1895 at 

 Gonville and Caius College a scholarship to be called the 

 Salomons Engineering Scholarship, has, on the occasion of the 

 celebration of the 550th anniversary of the foundation of the 

 college, increased the annual value of the scholarship from 40/ 

 to about 70/. The scholarship is open to persons not yet in 

 residence, and is tenable for three years. The person elected is 

 to make a declaration that he bona Jide intends to enter the 

 engineering profession as a civil and electrical engineer, and 

 will, if required by the governing body of the college, become 

 a candidate for the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. The next 

 examination will be held on Tuesday, November i, 1898. 

 Candidates must not be more than nineteen years of age or> 

 October i, 1898. The successful candidate will be required to> 

 commence residence in October 1S99. The subjects of 

 examination will be Euclid, Algebra, Plane Trigonometry, 

 Geometrical and Analytical Conic Sections, Elementary Statics 

 and Dynamics, and Differential Calculus Physics, including^ 



