March, 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



21 



Clark on " Gull Isim.nd." — This yoim^ 

 Tern was about two-thirds grown, without 

 feathers, only sprouting quills, and was 

 covered with thick gray down, and the 

 fish, a Herring, was fully as long as the 

 bird, and very nearly as heavy, and was 

 about half swallowed. They lay on the 

 ground, the bird flat on its side, and I sup- 

 posed it was dead, but lifting it iip and re- 

 moving 'the fish I found the bird was all 

 right and ready for another. The head of 

 the fish was partly digested. I would not 

 suppose it possible for a Roseate Tern to 

 have captured or carried to land so large 

 a fish — much less such a little fellow at- 

 temiDt to deglutinate so immense a morsel 

 proportionably. — John N. Clark, Old 



Saybrook, Conn. 



^ 



Naturalist Manual. — We have received 

 from the author, Oliver Davie, of Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, a small 8 vo. book of 125 pages 

 with the above title. It is a compilation 

 from the best sources, chiefly Baird, Brewer 

 and Ridgway, and is intended for collectors 

 of Birds, Nests and Eggs, with full instruc- 

 tions how to collect and how to preserve 

 them. It is a most excellent plan j^artially 

 carried out, being from Turdid(M to Taira- 

 gridce. It is just the book for young or- 

 nithologists and those working in the field, 

 and eqiially valuable as a book of refer- 

 ence for any devotee to the science. We 

 hope Oliver will get encouragement enough 

 to complete the work at no distant day. 



AVe also received a fine cabinet photo- 

 graph of two Golden Eagles, mounted by 

 Mr. Davie. 



Technical Matters. 



Our ideas on technical terms are not 

 well understood by some of our readers. 

 We have the highest regard for advanced 

 scientists and closet naturalists, but as sci- 

 entists from education and force of habit 

 write only in their technical language, 

 which young naturalists cannot understand, 

 we have considered it a duty to our young 

 aspirants for ornithological knowledge to 

 publish bird life in plain English, always 

 giving scientific terms, but only once, after 

 that the English name only. We are in 

 perfect harmony with sciei:^^. We are an- 

 tagonistic to nothing that is honest in na- 

 tru'e. We claim the right to express our 

 views when ornithological trash is placed 

 upon the market for our patrons to buy. 

 We are antagonistic to no other publica- 

 tion. We claim the right to point out what 

 we believe to be eiTors, wherever found. 

 This is our platform and please remember 

 it, and don't forget that our readers are 

 hungry for every item of genuine news re- 

 lating to the life history of our birds, which 

 will be thankfully received ; and whenever 

 IDOSsible take the name, both English and 

 scientific, direct from the check list. If any 

 other list but the Smithsonian is used give 

 the name, describe your observations care- 

 fully, always bearing in mind that too 

 much dry science tends to rob a subject of 

 its general interest. 



" Birds of Ohio." 



Our thanks are tendered to a friend who 

 kindly remembered us with two copies of 

 this work, which we have looked over as 

 carefully as our limited time would admit. 

 Our first search was for something new, 

 but we found it not ; we turned to the 

 Snowy Owls, expecting that the author 

 would either prove or disprove Audubon's 

 story of shore birds at the Falls of the 

 Ohio, or at least have something to say 

 about it, but not a word. It would seem 

 to us that the author did not read the or- 

 nithological literature of the day. did not 



