The Audubon Note Book. 



21 



and egg collectors who ignorantly style themselves 

 ornithologists and oologists. The former may collect 

 both skins and eggs, or cause them to be collected, 

 for purposes of accurate scientific description and 

 comparison, and occasionally, but rarely, a man of 

 science will be reckless of life, and take a specimen 

 for which he has no definite need, but in so far as he 

 does collect, it is always as a means to an end, and 

 that end a worthy one — the advancement of our 

 knowledge of birds; but with the bird or &g% col- 

 lectors, the collection itself is the end; their triumphs 

 are measured by the number and rarity of the species 

 secured. 



The collecting of birds and eggs fostered in youth 

 under the mistaken impression that it indicates a 

 taste for natural history, frequently becomes a passion 

 to which the votaries devote all their leisure; and 

 quasi scientific journals are started to keep alive a 

 spirit of emulation among collectors by affording 

 them an opportunity for chronicling their triumphs. 

 The effect of this passion for collecting among boys 

 is perhaps quite as fatal as the fashion of feather 

 millinery among women, and we may expect both to 

 disappear when the natural history and economic 

 importance of birds shall be taught systematically 

 in our schools. 



A STORY OF THE IMAGINATION, 



Under the above heading, the New York Sun has 

 published an unqualified denial of the Seneca Falls 

 story, in which the prepossessing little widow, Mrs. 

 Ruth Armstrong, was said to have netted about 

 fifteen hundred dollars, by inducing a number of 

 local residents to subscribe to Audubon pledges, 

 which she subsequently converted into promissory 

 notes, and negotiated with Albert Hall, the banker 

 •of Sheldrake, who of course demanded his pound of 

 flesh as uncompromisingly as old Shylock. 



The story had a very realistic air about it, and was 

 well calculated to impose upon the credulous; but an 

 investigation only served to show that in every detail 

 it was a concoction of the same malicious type, as 

 the less definite ones in which "a farmer in the south- 

 ern portion of the State," or "a farmer a few miles 

 from here," was said to have had his signed pledge 

 converted into a promissory note. 



It was very difficult to trace the authors of in- 

 definite stories such as have been flying about in 

 country papers during the past two years, but the 

 Seneca Falls story, published as it was in a respect- 

 able New York journal, furnished a clew to the 

 writer, and admitted of complete refutation. The 

 first step in the investigation was to write to the 

 several parties named in the story, and in addition to 

 this we communicated with a respectable firm of 



resident lawyers, Messrs. Hammond, McDonald & 

 McDonald, at Seneca Falls, asking them to investi- 

 gate the stories; and these gentlemen, after careful 

 inquiry, report "that none of the six persons men- 

 tioned in the story is a resident of the county, and 

 that there is no truth whatever in the story, nor any 

 foundation for it." Our letters to the victims came 

 back unclaimed. 



With these evidences in our possession we com- 

 municated with the editor of the New York Sun, who 

 was of course anxious to make all necessary repar- 

 ation. The writer is too insignificant for the Society 

 to proceed against legally, and moreover, we assume 

 that he has been a mere tool in the hands of a party 

 of skin collectors, who, if they are wise, will be care- 

 ful to give us no further , provocation to proceed 

 against them criminally. Men who employ disre- 

 putable tools for criminal purposes, may be sure 

 their tools will "squeal" to save their own skins. 

 After this exposure, too, we trust the press every- 

 where will be on its guard against the admission of 

 any such ridiculous stories into their columns. The 

 conversion of an Audubon pledge into a promissory 

 note is simply an impossibility. 



A YOUNG ORNITHOLOGIST. 



South Hingham, Mass., Jan. lo, 1888. 

 Dear Mr. Editor: 



I am 12 years old, and a subscriber to the Audu- 

 bon Magazine. I like it very much, as I am inter- 

 ested in the study of birds. Most every day after 

 school, my dog Joe and I stroll into the woods to see 

 them. I have three or four books relating to birds, 

 and every night I read about some bird in them, and 

 then write about it. I have also a block of paper, 

 on which I am writing now about the chickadee. I 

 have a natural history room up-stairs, in which I 

 keep my papers on birds, and a case of curiosities, 

 butterflies, etc. I am trapping with two boys this 

 year, Warren and Frank Gushing, friends of mine; 

 we call ourselves by the Indian names, Jim, Jack 

 and Joe Anver. We caught eight woodchucks, four 

 muskrats, and one rabbit last year, and hope to meet 

 with as good success this year. In the woods we 

 have a camp, near which we have a camp-fire, and 

 pop corn, and have a fine time. We take up my 

 spaniel Joe, and their Gordon setter Dan, and the 

 dogs seem to take as much interest as we boys in the 

 hunt. Your friend, H. W. Young. 



Bound Volume. — We are now able to supply the 

 first volume of the Audubon Magazine, bound in 

 cloth, price fi.oo. Govers may be had for 25 cents, 

 and loose numbers sent to us will be bound for 50 

 cents. 



