64 ORNITHOLOGIST 
SCENE 2d.—Game Dealers—“We can distinguish Connecti- 
cut Quail from Massachusetts Quail.” 
I’. and G. “Sp.” A.—We drew it up. We don’t want it. We 
present this. We accept any change. What 
want? What don’t we want? 
Taxidermists—Refer this to “new” I. F. C. Lathrop. 
SCENE 3d.—Expert Citizen from Oyster Bay locality—“Have 
hunted for twenty-five years; never saw but one Deer.” 
Lawyer Tindale, who owns a sunmer resort at Oyster Bay 
and will not be questioned—‘People from all over the 
country come down to my place just to see Deer in 
their natural haunts.” 
Taxidermists—Do they wait twenty-five years? (Refer this 
to “new” I. F. C. Lathrop ) 
SCENE 4th.—Exeited Game Dealer—We ask for this. We 
want it. We will have it anyway. (2) 
Cool Game Dealer—Massachusetts people demand that we 
should sell game after the close season. (Presumably 
members of F. and G, “p.” A. on the sly). 
fl. F. C. Lathrop—(trembling yoice)—Protect the Buffalo. 
(General laughter.) 
Taxidermists—Is he a song bird? Are the taxidermists 
after him ? 
In closing we present an editorial squib from the Boston 
Herald, to show the bluster. This we believe to have been 
written in the interests of Boston game dealers, who were 
vexed because taxidermists insisted before the committee 
that no game dealer should be allowed to sell or have game 
in possession during close season. 
“There is an awful lot of humbug about this ‘natural 
history study.” Why should the robbing a birds’ nests be 
encouraged on the simple statement that it is done for sci- 
entific purposes? Whatare scientific purposes? Of what 
use to science is a collection of a dozen or two of birds’ 
eggs made at the cost of half a hundred times as many 
ruined nests. Ornithological is an impressive word, but the 
ornithological science which is killing off all our birds, 
beautiful for song or plumage, and which yield not a nama- 
ble benefit, is a delusion and a snare.” 
The reader can see evidence of the incapacity of which 
the Boston Globe has so often reminded us of late. 
MASSACHUSETTS TAXIDERMIST. 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
Capen’s ‘‘Oology of New England.’’ 
do we 


This valuabie and handsome folio volume has at length 
been published. It has long been in preparation, and its 
appearance has long been anxiously awaited by many, 
whose patience has been amply rewarded, Since the publi- 
cation of Dr. Brewer’s North American Odlogy, no work 
having such an ambitious scope has been attempted. Dr. 
Brewer's book, it wil! be remembered, was only frag- 
mentary, as it contained merely the Raptores, the Hirundi- 
nid, and a few others, which were embraced in Part I of 
that work. No further Parts were issued, and the: book to 
this day is incomplete. 
Mr. Capen’s work, as its title indicates, is an account of 
the eggs, nests and breeding habits of those species of birds 
known to raise their young in New England. It is surpris- 
ing, however, how large the list of species included is, and 
it therefore is in fact, what it is to be hoped it will eventu- 
ally prove to be, the first portion of a work which will finally 
include all the species of North American birds whose eggs 
have been discovered. 
A book on odlogy without illustrations would be of com- 
paratively little value, and Mr. Capen has wisely made them 
one of the principal features of the work. Twenty-five large 
plates, each ten by fourteen inches, afford ample room for 
hundreds of figures of eggs. These are well drawn and 
[Vol. 11-No. 4 
beautifully colored. They are produced by chromo-lithog- 
raphy, but have all the delicacy they would have if colored 
by hand, besides being more uniform than if produced in 
that way; and they have, moreover, the advantage of en- 
abling the book to be published at a price which is surpris- 
ingly low, considering the number and great beauty of - 
the plates. 
The eggs are all figured the size of nature, and in a great 
maby instances, several illustrations are given of each 
species. Thusin Plate I there are two figures of the eggs of 
the Hermit Thrush, (Hylociehla unalasew pallasi); two of 
those of the Olive-backed Thrush, (Hylocichla ustulata 
swainson?); three of the eggs of the Mockingbird, (Mims 
polyglottus); two of the Brown Thrasher, (HMarporhynehus 
rufus); and two of the Bluebird, (Sialia sialis). This en- 
ables Mr. Capen to show many of the variations to which 
most eggs are subject, and it renders the work far more 
valuable. This completeness of illustration is kept up 
throughout all the plates, and is one of the most valuable 
features of the book. Mr. Capen tells us in his preface that 
in his illustrations he has ‘‘made careful selections from 
many large collections to obtain the most typical, and in 
many cases where there is considerable variation, the most 
characteristic specimens.” This of course is a matter 
about which individuals will differ, but certainly many 
people will fail to agree with Mr. Capen as to some of the 
specimens he figures being the most characteristic of the 
species. Take for instance his figures of the eggs of the 
Marsh Hawk, (Cireus hudsonius). The illustrations repre- 
sent two eggs, both of which are distinctly spotted, when 
the great majority of eggs of this species are wholly un- 
spotted, and lighter in tint than either of Mr. Capen’s ~ 
figures. Again the illustration of the egg of Cooper’s Hawk, 
(Aceipiter cooperi,) represents a specimen quite distinetly 
spotted, which does not occur in one set out of ten. 
The two illustrations of the eggs of the Red-tailed Hawk, 
(Buteo borealis,) may also be criticized as being open to the 
same objection. In fact the illustrations of the eggs of the 
various hawks are perhaps the least satisfactory of all in : 
the book. <A partiality appears to have been shown for 
brightly colored specimens of this family, and the result is 
that while the pictures are very beautiful, they can hardly 
be said to be characteristic. However, as was before said, 
this isa matter about which there may be much difference 
of opinion. No eggs vary more than those of the hawks, 
(except the A/eid@,) and the selection of typical specimens 
among them is therefore a matter of great difficulty. 
There is one part of the book, however, about which there 
cannot be a difference of opinion, and that is regret that 
Mr. Capen has followed some of the older writers in giving 
the number of eggs laid by many species. Audubon was a 
man whom we will always remember with affection for his 
love of birds, and the beautiful pictures of them which he 
has left us, but when he said that the Great Horned Owl, 
(Bubo virginianus,) laid from three to six eggs, we cannot 
but regard the statement as an error. There is no reason to 
suppose that those birds laid more eggs in his day than 
they do now, and no one at the present time has ever suc- 
ceeded in finding more than four. ‘Two and three are the 
common number. It is a pity, therefore, that Mr. Capen 
follows Audubon, and tells us that ‘tas many as six have 
been found,” So also is it a mistake to say of the Red- 
tailed Hawk, (Buteo borealis,) that the eggs are “usually 
three in number, seldom more or less.” Two are oftener 
found than three. 
These are minor faults however, and detract very little 
from the value of the book. Taken altogether it is a most 
creditable work, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Capen will 
meet with sufficient encouragement to enable him to go on 
with his book and publish other volumes, which will, in 
time, make the book a complete history of the odlogy of 
North America. J. PN, 
