THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



63 



Ik you should receive an extra "sample" copy 

 of the NiDiOLOGiST, it means you are politely 

 requested to hand same to an interested friend, 

 and to promptly secure his subscription, in order 

 to take advantage of our offer on another page. 

 Help us to improve this the only first-class illus- 

 trated magazine of ornithology in America, and 

 you will help yourself also. And, by the way, 

 don't wait for "one more saniple" before subscrib- 

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 better send in your name now, and get the full file 

 from No. i, while they last. 



ACCIDENTAL DEATHS OF BIRDS 



A REiyiABivE and well-known ornithologist writes 

 us from Minnesota: "Before I forget, did you 

 know that Verrill is an impudent fraud ? Some of 

 his eggs are hand-painted!'^ 



Another prominent ornithologist of Rhode Island 

 sends us the following, unsolicited : " I feel it 

 my duty to warn you against A. H. Verrill, New 

 Haven, Ct. He is sending out hand-painted eggs; 

 has sent them to the Smithsonian, and that is 

 their verdict. I have been in New Haven and 

 seen his 'stock.' Beware of him." 



Referring to this same dealer we have this from 

 a high authority in the Smithsonian Museum : "I 

 was in hopes of seeing those articles on the Harpy 

 Eagle aud the Coppery-tailed Trogan in the last 

 number, but looked in vain. I have seen some of 

 their so-called eggs, however, which give me a 

 pretty good idea of what the articles themselves 

 would be worth, and your paper is probably better 

 off without them. I believe myself that something 

 will drop in that quarter before long." 



BRIEF NOTES. 



At the beginning of the shooting season this 

 year (October i) an albino Sprig was shot on the 

 Suisun marsh with pink bill and feet. 



Dr. A. C. Murchison writes: "I am sure the 

 NiDiOLOGiST will take the lead of all the papers 

 devoted to birds and their eggs, at least it is far 

 better than any I have ever seen." 



Otto Emerson reports seeing his first Western 

 Robin atHaywards, October 12. 



Walter E. Bryant has just completed the cata- 

 loguing of his collection. It comprises from 3,500 

 to 4,000 eggs in sets. Among unique sets of eggs 

 in the collection are those of the Flicker, Kinglet, 

 Junco and House Finch, described from Guadaloupe 

 Island. 



Colonel Hafiford of Tombstone, A. T., has made 

 application to the Midwinter Fair management for 

 space in which to display his ornithological and 

 zoological collection. It is composed of many 

 mounted animals, birds, reptiles, etc., all killed 

 in Arizona. 



Not counting the shotgun aud trap 

 routes, the accidental death rate is very 

 small, principall}^ owing to the wary and 

 alert habits so prevalent among all birds, 

 more so among some species than others. 

 It is even very pronounced among domestic 

 fowls. Nature has endowed every bird for 

 self-preservation with a certain amount of 

 acuteness, which I call suspicion and dis- 

 trust, and to illustrate it more fully I call 

 upon the reader to observe the actions of 

 any bird that regards a strange and un- 

 familiar object, whether animate or inani- 

 mate, for the first time, and even any object 

 known to be dangerous. After considering 

 this, there are many unseen dangers that 

 entangle the birds, and others that seem 

 too innocent to be harmful; it is into these 

 that the birds fall. 



No estimate can be given of the number 

 of birds killed by flying against a light on 

 a pole; these are chiefly birds that fly by 

 night as well as by day, such as Ducks, 

 Snipe, and other water fowl. Human sci- 

 ence is unknown to the avian family, and 

 they almost always come to grief when in 

 contact with it, like the ' 'monkey and the 

 buzz-saw . ' ' 



Early one morning last winter I found a 

 fine specimen of the Little Black Rail be- 

 neath a row of tall silver poplars, and 

 judged that it had struck one of the trees 

 while flying at night from one marsh to the 

 other, about five miles distant, as this spe- 

 cies flies rather low, not being strong of 

 wing. Upon skinning the bird to preserve 

 it I found the skull back of the bill was 

 fractured, so my conclusion was correct. 



Several winters before this I obtained a 

 specimen of the Red-breasted Merganser. 

 This was a female that met her dea|:h by 

 striking a telegraph wire over one of the 

 principal business streets of Oakland, Cali- 

 fornia. The bird was killed outright, but 

 whether the fall on the pavement aided I 

 cannot tell. 



This summer I found five or six English 



