Oct. 1890.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



159 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGISTa^'OOLOGIST 



A Monthly Magazine of 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 



THEIR NESTS AND E«(iS, 



and to the 

 INTERESTS OF NATURALISTS. 



Under the Editorial ManaK'enient of 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, 

 J. PARKER NORRIS, 

 FRANK A. BATES, 



Boston, Mass. 



I'hiladelphia, Pa. 



Boston, Mass. 



PUBLISHED AT 



FRANK B. WEBSTER'S 



N A T U R A L I S T S' SUPPLY DEPOT, 



Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



The O. & O. is mailed each issue to every paid sub- 

 scriber. If you fail to receive it, notify us. 



EditoriaL 



Tlie time is now appi'dachino- when it be- 

 hooves the ornithoh\nical collector to look 

 about him and see who his fiieiuls are, before 

 castinf^' his vote for our coming iulministration. 

 Our readers will remember the light made one 

 year ago in behalf of collectors, by the Massa- 

 chusetts League of Ornithologists, in the 

 effort to have due recognition given to a large 

 body of educated, intelligent people, by giving 

 tliem a rejiresentative from their own ranks on 

 the Fish and Game Commission, in the person 

 of one who was able to, at least, act intelli- 

 gently on the sul)ject of the Protection of our 

 Birds, and who would have compelled atten- 

 tion to the requests of collectors, a thing 

 which, so far, they have hardly been able to 

 secure, and never any action on the matter; 

 and they will also remember (surely those of 

 them who are members of the league will do so) 

 the recei)tion with whicli their numerously 

 signed petition was met, and the inisillanimous 

 manner in which the matter was postponed until 

 it was too late for any liarm to be done in the 

 way of losing votes to the administration then 

 in power, because the appointment was inim- 

 ical to the interests of the petitioners. 



But the present administration can rest as- 

 sured that their action in the matter during 

 the past year has been duly noted and that 



this year there has been plenty of time to make 

 up their minds upon the subject. 



We do not believe that the taxidermists 

 and ornithologists of this state want the earth. 

 But we do think that they are entitled to one 

 little spot upon which to plant their feet, and 

 this spot has been wofully narrowed down, 

 until a man with a medium sized foot has not 

 got I'oom to brace himself. 



The pseudo naturalists, who study the birds 

 from their parlor windows overlooking Boston 

 Common; the feminine sentimentalists, in 

 whom a good tramp in the bracing country air 

 would produce a suffusion of the conglomerate 

 matter which they call brains; the dude sports- 

 man, who only shoots when he has on his 

 corduroy and canvas, and who faints at the idea 

 of killing a bird unless it is classed as a game 

 bird, but who can relish a dirty English Spar- 

 row if it is only called Reed-bird on the menu, 

 and the market-man, redolent of cold storage 

 game, have all combined to shut out the 

 student of Natural History, to whose days and 

 nights of hard work is due much of the success 

 and honor of our Commonwealth. But the 

 time will come when this long-suffering class 

 will rise in their might, and those who have 

 been their friends will be remembered; and in 

 the meanwhile we think from the quiet work 

 which is being done this fall that they propose 

 to try tlieir strength whenever the opportunity 

 is given. 



Constant dropping wears away the hardest 

 stone, and surely this little band is performing 

 a deal of patient, enduring labor this year, and 

 time will show what the result will be. We 

 do not think that the present administration 

 can afford, in the aspect of the situation to-day, 

 to overlook a body which is so patient in its 

 work against injustice, — patient because it 

 knows it has right on its side. 



Brief Notes, 



We are busv, 



The display made by H. E. Austen in tax- 

 idermy is simply marvellous, occupying 70 

 feet of space, and reflects the greatest credit 

 on that gentleman's taste and science. It con- 

 sists of 14 large cases — No. 1 devoted to the 

 grouse family of birds; No. 2 to the gull 

 family; No. 15 to the flamingo, nest and eggs; 

 Nos. 4 and 5 to ducks; No. (i to the fish hawk, 

 nest and young, and the goshawk, nest and 

 young; No. 7 to owls; No. 8 to herons and 

 egrets; No. 9 to bitterns, rails, gallinule, etc.; 

 No. 10 to curlew, avocets, plover, willet, ruffs, 

 etc.; Nos. 11, 12, 13, and 14 to small birds of 



