CORRESPONDENCE 281 



should judge it would ouly bo when there were no suitable trees 

 for the purpose anywhere in the vicinity. Birds, like man, will 

 adapt themselves to circumstances, although at times they may 

 be obliged to act contrary to their nature. I have been thinking 

 a good deal about the Guillemot. It would be a fact well worth 

 ascertaining, if indeed it is a fact, that only the young change to 

 white, or rather that the white plumage is an indication of imma- 

 turity, and the black the livery of only the adult bird. I know no 

 person in a better position to determine the question than your- 

 self who have them about you so much of the time. Your 

 remarks about naturalists copying from each other are perfectly 

 correct, and it is from this bad habit that so many errors have 

 been promulgated. I shall endeavor in my work to be as inde- 

 pendent as possible. I am going to-morrow into the country to 

 shoot quail, and shall try to have a shot at the ducks before long. 

 They are getting to be plenty now on the coast ; the cold weather 

 at the north is driving them down here. 

 Let me hear from you at your leisure. 

 Yours very truly, 



D. G. Elliot. 



Charles Hallock is a native of New York city where 

 he was born March 13, 1834. Previous to his establish- 

 ment of Forest and Stream, the leading sportsmen's and 

 naturalists' newspaper in this country, in 1873, Mr. 

 Hallock had been at times editor of several leading 

 journals in this country, Bermuda and New Brunswick. 

 Since 18G0 he has done much collecting and field work 

 in zoology for the Smithsonian Institution. He is an 

 authority upon ornithology, is the author of many 

 treatises on sporting and natural history subjects, has 

 traveled extensively and had charge of special exhibits 

 at some of the great expositions. 



