I30 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



The Nidiologist. 



Ay ILLi'STh'ATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDT OF 



ORXITHOLOGY, 



With Special Ueference to the 



NlUIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BiRDS. 



H. R. TATLOE, Editor and Publisher, 



Associated with Dr. R. W. SHUFELDT. 



WE EXPOSE FRAUDS. 



Subscription (in advance), to any part of the world, . . $1.5(i 

 '• Six Months SO cents 



Single Copies 15 cents 



Ueniit bills, money order, draft, or check. 

 The Magazine is ni>t sent after subscriptions have expired. 



FOflEIGN AGENT, H. T. BOOTH, 38A UPCERNE ROAD, CHELSEA, LONDON. 



Original contributions, with or without illustrations, are desired. 

 ADVEUTISIXG RATES FURNISHED. 



OFFICE OF PUBLICATION, 

 150 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY. 



Entered at the New York Post OBioe as mail matter of the second class. 



Every reader of this magazine will note with pleas- 

 ure the name of our new Associate Editor, Dr. R. \V. 

 Shufeldt, of the Smithsonian Institution. It would be 

 an impertinence to formally introduce Dr. Shufeldt to 

 our subscribers, for as one of the founders of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union, and in years of active 

 scientific investigation in Ornithology as well as in 

 many other fields, his name and works are known 

 and felt not alone in America, but the world over. 

 The XiuiOLOGiST, to which Dr. Shufeldt has often 

 contributed, and in which he has ever manifested a 

 warm interest, will surely reach a still higher success 

 under the new editorial management. 



This may fittingly be called our " Ooiogists' 

 edition," the descriptions of new methods and appa- 

 ratus making it very valuable to the collector. 



A Kisii basket carries lunch, eggs, and nests, and the 

 curious always know what you are after (of course), 

 which saves answering questions. 



O.NK of the best and most successful egg collectors in 

 the country is a careful reader. Keep posted, and 

 subscribe for a good Ornithological magazine — as a 

 paying investment if for no other reason. 



"Rk.^ders who have any good and wise " contrap- 

 tion " to exploit, like our friend Dille, should send a 

 description of it to the " Nil).," where it will do the 

 most good. 



In September will be solemnized the wedding of 

 Dr. R. W. Shufeldt to Miss Florence Audubon, a 

 daughter of John Woodhouse Audubon, the second 

 son of J. J. Audubon, the famous author of the 

 Birds of America. May the wedding, so happily 

 appropriate, be ever appropriately happy! 



It is a poor policy f(jr a Legislature to pass an 

 absolutely prohibitory law against collecting, making 

 no exception in the rase of scientific collectors. They 

 say this has now been done in Florida. Not knowing 

 one bird from another, nor which should be protected 



and which not, the Solons pass a blanket bill to cover 

 the whole matter, and think no more of it ! They 

 don't need a collector, of course, to tell them the 

 difference between a Heron and an Anhinga. 



Mr. Webb still maintains he is quite right in quot- 

 ing California Vultures' eggs at S25 in his " Manual," 

 and calls for the "opinion of Eastern collectors," 

 who, of course, from a varied experience with the 

 species, can tell all about it. We cannot but admire 

 the entire freedom of Mr. Webb from such a conven- 

 tionality as accuracy when he says, referring to our 

 article on this Vulture : " After reading the notes from 

 the various collectors throughout California, from 

 San Francisco to the e.xtreme south of Lo'.i'er Califor- 

 nia and Mexico, a breeding range of nearly 1,000 

 miles, and noting the immense number oi birds seen 

 and taken, we are loath to class the species with the 

 Labrador Duck or Great Auk," etc. The italics are 

 ours. We have no notes from the mainland of Mexico, 

 and Mr. Webb, from the way he couples the two, 

 seems ignorant of the fact that Lower California is a 

 part of Mexico. Mr. Anthony says the bird is found 

 only in the northern part of the long peninsula of 

 Baja, California. An " immense number taken " — 

 phew ! Mr. Webb must have a very large stock of 

 these birds on hand? 



It is too bad Mr. Webb could not furnish us an egg 

 of the California Vulture when we offered him $250 

 for one. But his pricing really does not very much 

 matter. It may be a pleasure to Mr. Webb, consider- 

 ing the small chance of his ever seeing an egg, to 

 price them. 



What grieves us most is the pricing at $3 of eggs of 

 the Guadalupe Caracara (now supposed to be ex- 

 tinct'), and eggs of the Farallone Rail, of which only 

 the type specimen exists, and that disputed. 



Among other curiosities of this "standard price list" 

 is the valuation of seventy-five cents on the egg of 

 Vaux's Swift. By the way, has there ever been any 

 authentic published description of the eggs of this 

 Swift ? 



Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Lattin, of Albion, N. Y., 

 are to be congratulated on the accession of a priceless 

 specimen. Dorothy May Lattin arrived March 5, '95, 

 and she weighed eight pounds, too. 



Professor Lidwig Kimi.ien, of Milton College, 

 Milton, Wis., writes : " I find I cannot get along with- 

 out TiiK Ninioi.OGiST. I am particularly pleased with 

 vour methods of dealing with Ornithological frauds — 

 have no tnercy on them." 



I iiARUi.v thinkthat anyone can complain because of 

 the change in the subscription price of your excellent 

 magazine, as I, for one, would be a satisfied subscriber 

 were the price $3 per annum. 



John K. Strecker, Jr. 



Waco, Texas. 



Bein(; pushed for space in this issue, we are com- 

 pelled to omit our usual table of contents. 



We have it from a man who claims to know, that a 

 well-known curator at the U. S. National Museum 

 has had men near Monterey, Cal., on the lookout for 

 nests of the California V'ulture for a dozen years, but 

 unsuccessfullv- 



The Ninioi.OGiST goes all over the world, and wide- 

 awake collectors say they " must have it." 



