THE NIDIOLOGIST 



163 



ever, and gives the reader many useful points, 

 though we reckless, wading, swimming, tree- 

 climbing prowlers are carried away by the true 

 naturalist's spirit in which the bird hunt is 

 described, and, forgetting for the time that the 

 writer is a lady, bring up with a start at the in- 

 formation that the ground was soft and there 

 was no place to set a camp stool. 



In that same number of the Atlantic, Brad- 

 ford Torrey begins his "Week on Walden's 

 Ridge." Every naturalist and bird lover will 

 find in Mr. Torrey a man after his own heart, 

 but unfortunately he only shows himself to 

 magazine readers in vacation time, and we see 

 him only at rest or play, never at work. We 

 all know that he has the information we need, 

 but instead of giving it to us in adequate 

 quantities he chats with the stage driver, culti- 

 vates the "natives." and only makes incidental 

 mention of the birds we long to hear about. 



William Hamilton Gibson (June Haj-per's) 

 is another popular writer who seeks the " tumul- 

 tuous solitude " of the woods and fields, and 

 delights us with his portrayals of nature, with or 

 without feathers. 



All the great magazines cultivate the natural- 

 ist occasionally, but in all of them there is at 

 times a complete dearth of natural history 

 articles, and the Ornithologist who depended 

 on them alone for his literature would soon 

 find himself with nothing to read — a condition 

 analogous to that of " Miss Flora McFlimsy," 

 who " had forty-five dresses, and nothing to 

 wear." It is necessary to prepare for such emer- 

 gencies by subscribing for a few periodicals de- 

 voted exclusively to the reader's specialty. 



Best among these comes the Auk, grand and 

 dignified, as befits a quarterly at seventy-five 

 cents a number, but while yielding it first 

 place in its line, a multitude of readers prefer a 

 cheaper and more frequent visitor. Monthlies 

 we have in profusion, not to mention that 

 breezy little weekly, the Natural Science News. 



These many journals ought not to regard 

 each other as rivals, for every new science 

 publication, by diffusing information through 

 wider and wider circles, creates a demand for 

 more reading of the same kind. 



You will look in vain for anything approach- 

 ing belles-lettres in the smaller publications. 

 Their value lies in the fact that the information 

 they contain seems to come directly from out 

 of doors and reaches you from first hand, as it 

 were. The writers of many of the articles are 

 destitute of literary training, but what of that ? 

 If a man knows how a bird eats, builds, or 

 sings he is the man we wish to hear from. If 

 he cannot, like Stevenson, spend his life search- 

 ing for correct words and fine phrases, no 

 matter. He ought not to keep his information 



to himself on that account, for every editor is 

 supposed, like Gilbert and Sullivan's hero, to 

 " have grammar and spelling for two, and blood 

 and behavior for twenty." 



Our Animal Friends is a little outside of our 

 own specialty, but is doing a noble work for 

 the birds, though I am very much afraid that 

 the editor's eloquent plea for the English 

 Sparrow, in a recent number, will fall upon 

 stony ground. 



I frequently find it stated that European 

 publications of the class under consideration 

 are insufferably dull, and cannot help but ask, 

 Do the writers who so glibly condemn French 

 and German journals read these languages ? I 

 will admit that the French naturalists of to-day 

 are usually too diffuse in their style, and compel 

 the unhappy reader to wade through a sea of 

 words to reach the coveted facts, but no such 

 charge can brought against the Germans. The 

 only fault we can find with them is that even 

 their brief articles are composed in a very 

 scholarly style. 



The semimonthly Natur und Haus, though 

 devoted to natural history in general, contains 

 so many articles on birds that it deserves the 

 patronage of all Ornithologists. Most of the 

 illustrations, being printed on inferior paper, 

 are not equal to those in the Nidiologist, but 

 the colored plates are above reproach. They 

 are printed from plates made 'by a patent pho- 

 togravure process, and although only three 

 colors are used they are so blended that they 

 are almost as effective as a dozen applied in 

 the ordinary way. 



The pride of the German bird student is 

 Die Gefiederte Welt (" The Feathered World "), 

 a weekly, now in its twenty-fourth year. Its 

 leading articles would do credit to cognate 

 publications on this side of the water, but its 

 departments on the breeding and care of birds 

 in captivity grate harshly on the nerves of a 

 man who abhors bird cages. 



The St. Hubertus, which bears family re- 

 semblance to our own Forest and Stream, con- 

 tains many articles of scientific interest. One 

 of these is an account of the efforts that have 

 been made to introduce the Wild Turkey into 

 Germany as a game bird. The Turkeys im- 

 ported from Mexico all perished, but those 

 from farther north flourished wherever they 

 were given fair treatment. 



Vincennes, Ind. Angus Gaines. 



Mr. Charles K. Worthen writes : " I 

 have just received two beautiful pairs of Ivory- 

 billed Woodpecker; also three Florida Wild 

 Turkeys and a pair of the very rare Flammu- 

 lated Screech Owls." 



