OKXITIIOLOGIST 



AND 



OOLOGIST. 



I?1.(MI \lr\- 



aiiiiiiiii . 



VOL. VI. 



Established March 187'), 

 .I()Hi'|>li M. Wade, e<lit()r and piilillisher. 



10 cents 

 single copy. 



ROCKVILLE, CONN., MARCH 1881. 



NO. 



THE OOLOGIST. 



iT> lllsToin UtO.M TIIK ( OMMKNCKMKNT. 

 [)IV 1111: ASS(>( lATK KPITOI!.] 



Durinf^ the winter of 1874-5, while con- 

 ducting an ornithological department in a 

 western amatenr paper called The Heper- 

 tory, the writer with a very indefinite idea 

 of his undertaking. l)ut with a certain con- 

 viction that the periodical literature of 

 America poorly represented the science of 

 oology: while the broader subject of ornith- 

 ology did not count a solitary popular ser 

 ial devoted entirely to the w ants of those 

 interested in birds and their eggs, conclud- 

 ed to commen(!e the publication of an ama- 

 teur paper eminently for the Oologist. 



With no outside help, no money, and a 

 limited experience, after having secured 

 the promise of an iinemployed printer to un- 

 dertake the jiublic.ition of a snjall monthly, 

 called The Oologist, to be "issued," as the 

 first number states, "in the interests of col- 

 lectors and naturalists," he set himself to 

 the task of supplying the material for the 

 first iiumber (the writer was then IG years 

 of age). This was ijublished in March, 

 1875, an eight page, small, octavo sheet, 

 and consisted of short items and articles 

 of a varying character ; the bulk, however, 

 being on oology. The plan of the paper, 

 when started, was of a manifold nature : 

 s!) much so that its existence was nearly 

 crushed out on the publicatitm of the first 

 number, by the severe and unrelenting 

 criticism uniformly thnist at it bj those 

 few to whom the salutatory sejmed a cri- 

 terion of its inuuediate futuie. [The pre- 

 sent copy of our little journa] is a fair 

 specimen of what we intend to produce for 

 the next twelve months or more.] This 

 criticism the editor frankly and advisedly 



pronounces well merited, and was certainly 

 a great influence in re-forming its scope 

 and literary aspect. As a sort of initiatory 

 there was in the first issue a department 

 shortly entitled "Story," under which a 

 senseless item, which was frequently band- 

 ied about by the newspapers, was publish- 

 ed ; certainly, the writer admits, very inap- 

 pi'opriate. The next department was "Ool- 

 ogy." Under this caption appeared several 

 articles entitled respectively, "Birds' Nests 

 and Eggs," "Nest and Eggs of the Broad- 

 winged Hawk," "Eggs and Nest of Black- 

 throatdd Green Warbler," "Oology," and 

 "Our Excursion," supplemented by several 

 small items. The editorial portion of the 

 paper occupied, as in the last number, the 

 top of th^ fourth page ; after which, under 

 the departmental title, "Amezican Birds," 

 were printed "American Game Birds," "The 

 Confined Purple Finch," and a purported 

 humorous piece, entitled "Abi.wt Robbinz." 

 The remaining portion of the paper w^as 

 devoted to notes and items under the de- 

 partments of "Foreign Birds," "Sugar," a 

 supposed humorous subdivision (conduct- 

 ed after the style of many of the amateur 

 papers, by an appropriate editor, who pseu- 

 donymed himself "Sweet-meat," and illus- 

 trated by one of the editor's own wood- 

 cuts, well siiited to the department but not 

 above criticism,) "Ornithological Items," 

 "Exchanges," "Correspondence." "Miscell- 

 aneous," and "Advertisements." 



No prospectus of the paper having been 

 cUstributed, and no announcement of its 

 ]n'oposed publication having been made,- 

 I xcept to a few, personall3% the first num- 

 ber was a complete failm-e. The jDublisher 

 i.nd proprietor was at a loss to pay the 



