THE OOLOGIST 



403 



Birds. 



Thousands of birds are killed by 

 Japs. Dr. Homer R. Hill says that Al- 

 batrosses are treated most cruelly. 

 Starved to death that their feathers 

 may be made more salable. 



New York, Nov. 2. — That thousands 

 of albatrosses have been imprisoned 

 to die of starvation by Japanese 

 feather poachers in the Hawaiian Is- 

 lands was told today by Dr. Homer R. 

 Hill of the University of Iowa in an ad- 

 dress before the annual meeting of the 

 National Association of Audubon so- 

 cieties. 



He has recently returned from the 

 Pacific and states that these birds 

 each year collect in countless numbers 

 to rear their young on Layson island, 

 which is now a United States bird 

 reservation. They grow fat from in- 

 action and much eating and are easily 

 captured. By placing them in dry 

 cisterns, where no food is available, 

 the fat becomes absorbed by the time 

 the birds die. This makes the skin- 

 ning easy and the feathers are render- 

 ed more salable. 



Twenty-three of the agents of the 

 feather trade were captured sometime 

 ago and taken to Honolulu for trial. 

 The Audubon society is planning to 

 protect these birds in future by means 

 of agents, who will be placed on the 

 island during the breeding season of 

 the birds. 



"The past year we employed about 

 50 wardens to guard great nesting 

 colonies of water birds throughout 

 North America, and at least 2,000,000 

 birds thus dwelt in safety from the 

 millinery hunters," said T. Gilbert 

 Pearson, national Audubon secretary, 

 after the lecture today. "There seems 

 to be no limit to which the feather 

 manufacturers will go in their desire 

 to get bird feathers with which to 

 trim women's hats," he declared. — San 

 Jose Mercury. 



Volume XXIX. 



With this issue we close Volume 

 XXIX of The Oologist. Whether it 

 has been better or worse than previ- 

 ous volumes, the reader must judge. 

 It will be the aim of the management 

 of The Oologist to make Volume XXX 

 as good or better than Volume XXIX 

 has been; but this we cannot do with- 

 out the support and assistance of our 

 readers. 



We publish The Oologist for fun; not 

 for money, and are always glad of all 

 of the assistance in the way of contri- 

 butions of copy that our readers may 

 make. 



The only change the ensuing year 

 will note in the policy of the maga- 

 zine, if such may be denominated a 

 change, will be that more attention 

 will be given to Oology than was pos- 

 sible during the past year. And as a 

 beginning, on the following page you 

 will find the only published illustration 

 of an authentic double-shelled egg that 

 has ever been printed. This specimen 

 is in our private collection, and has 

 been repeatedly referred to in the 

 columns of The Oologist. 



R. M. B. 



Please discontinue ad. of mine for 

 exchange of a pair of field glasses. 

 Have disposed of them long ago, and 

 am still receiving inquiries. 



George Seth Guion. 

 February 24, 1912. 



Please cut out my ad. as it appears 

 on page 2, middle of second column in 

 the October number of The Oologist. 

 Received all the copies I wanted. Have 

 also disposed of all the bird books 

 that I advertised in The Oologist for 

 sale, some time ago. 



Philip Laurent. 

 October 17, 1912. 



The Oologist continues as good as 

 ever since you acquired it and it's a 

 pity some of the ornithologists and 

 collectors do not contribute more arti- 

 cles to it than they do. 



Richard F. Miller. 

 August 31, 1912. 



