ORNITHOLOGIST | 

[Vol. 11-No. 11 


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Salk TEEN | 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
OOLOGIST. 
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 
NATPRA Lor rs FOR, 
ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 
BIRDS, 
THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THE INTERCHANGE OF NOTES 
AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD AND INSECT LIFE. 
F. H. CARPENTER, Managing Editor, 
REHOBOTH, MASS. 
J. PARKER NORRIS, Odlogical Editor, 
204 SouTH SEVENTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 
FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 
409 WASHINGTON, ST., BOSTON, MASS. 
Editorial. 

An extra edition of this number will be 
sent out as samples. Parties receiving 
duplicates, will favor us by handing them 
to friends who are interested. 
We publish a communication from a le- 
gal gentleman of New York. It is a fair 
illustration of the stupid manner in which 
the bird laws are enacted. We are in- 
formed that a number of gentlemen who 
were well versed on the subject and the 
requirements, devoted considerable time 
in drawing up proposed alterations, when 
they were presented, amendments changed 
them into what appears to us to be a farce, 
with a law that makes it a crime to have a 
wing in one's possession without a permit. 
Hundreds of store windows in New York 
City are filled with birds, wings and feath- 
ers. The fact is a larger piece has been 
bitten off than can be swallowed. The wis- 
dom of such strictures is questionable. 
That great social lever, public opinion, 
may condemn wholesale slaughter for mil. 
linery use, but it will not “fail to decry the 
injustice of the situation, when a young 
student desires to collect birds and cannot — 
and a scientist desires to collect birds and 
does.” The object of each is the same, 
and ‘why art thou better than thy brother.” 
The past year has been a very unhealthy 
season for amateur publications. During 
the first part we received them by scores. 
They have gradually dropped out of line 
until now there are but some half dozen. 
Some we have regretted to see fall, others 
deserved their fate. A party who starts 
an amateur natural history paper is almost 
certain to come to grief. Those who have 
valuable communications should consider 
the importance of placing them where 
they will vemain on record. The Ornrruot- 
oGist AND Oo .oaist and its young friend 
the Auk we believe to be the surest of the 
future from present appearances, from the 
fact that they are both published under 
the impulses of love for the cause. 
There are thousands who should sup- 
port both. The amount of the subscrip- 
tion is a trifle compared with what is 
wasted by naturalists. A complete file of 
these publications is as important as the 
contents of the cabinet. During the years 
1884-5 37,900 copies of the O anp O. 
were published, a large portion were sent 
out as samples and resulted in but about 
200 increase of circulation. 
Of 500 paid subscribers at the start at 
the present time, but 150 of same names 
are on the list. This is caused by the fact 
that with many, the study is of brief dura- 
tion. Like school life, a short term is 
what a publication of the nature of the O. 
anp O. has to contend with, and is a reason 
why the life long student should stand 
firmly in its support. 
In reply to several enquiries relative to 
the movements of the special correspon 
dents of the OrnrrHoLoaist AND Ooxoeist, 
we would say that Dr. LeMoyne is at 
present in Tennessee, where he will re- 
main until December, when he will go as 
far south as Key West. Mr. C. F. Morri- 
