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THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



THE 



BOTANIST 



A MONTHLY DEVOTED TO BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 



Joseph E. Blain, 



WlLLARD N. CLUTI 



Publisher. 

 , Editor. 



Articles on subjects of interest to Botanists and 

 Ornithologists solicited from all. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



One Subscription, six months, - - 20 cents. 

 One Subscription, one year, - - - 35 cents. 

 Single Copies, ------ 3 cents. 



Advertising rates made known on application. 



If manuscript is accepted the author will be noti- 

 fied at once. Rejected manuscript will be returned 

 when accompanied by stamps. 



We reserve the right to edit all manuscript. 



Address all communications to 



Joseph E. Blain, Binghamton, N. Y. 



Vol. I, 



APRIL, il 



No. IV. 



From superintending the editorial work of the 

 Ornithologist and Botanist through the first 

 three issues, the present editor has come to have 

 entire control of this department. As before, 

 no pains will be spared to make the magazine 

 attractive. The addition of a cover with this 

 issue is only one of numerous improvements to 

 be made in the near future. We intend to make 

 the magazine of so much interest to ornitholo- 

 gists and botanists that none can afford to be 

 without it. 



It is a pleasant indication of how this journal 

 is received, to find the names of most of the 

 well-known botanists and ornithologists heading 

 the list of subscribers from their respective states. 

 When people are willing to venture their money 

 on an object, it is certain that they believe it to 

 be a good one. 



Although our subscription price is very low, 

 we will make a reduction to those who secure 

 us a single extra subscription. To clubs of two 

 or more, the magazine will be mailed for thirty 

 cents a year. To large clubs we will make a 

 further reduction. This journal should be taken 



in every family where there is children. When 

 sending in your subscription induce your friends 

 to do the same. We have a limited supply of 

 the March issue left. Those who subscribe 

 now may have a copy free by asking for it. 



For nearly a month, spring has been slowly 

 creeping northward, and now every day furnish- 

 es new objects for investigation. Keep your 

 eyes and ears open and make a note of the 

 interesting happenings for publication. What 

 interests you, will interest the thousands who 

 read this magazine. 



This spring, those who have not already done 

 so, will find fascinating work in making out a 

 list of the flowers or birds of their vicinity. It 

 is surprising how many there are when one comes 

 to enumerate them. The list should contain 

 the scientific as well as the common names, and 

 may be made more valuable by notes on the 

 distribution, abundance etc., of the species. 



There is more enjoyment in finding the first 

 flower of its kind that blooms, than in viewing 

 whole fields full when the plant becomes com- 

 mon. Spring does not come to all places alike. 

 The knowing botanist searches out the warm 

 southern slopes and finds flowers many days be- 

 fore his neighbor who is not so wise. If one 

 keeps a list of dates on which the first ones 

 bloom, he can derive much pleasure from trying 

 to find them earlier next spring. 



In most localities, the very first spring flower, 

 albeit a malodorous one, is the skunk-cabbage. 

 One may often find the cowled, greenish-purple 

 spathes peeping up through the frozen ground 

 in March. The leaves do not appear till some- 

 time after. There seems to be no stem to the 

 flower, but one spring it was proved otherwise. 

 The plant started to bloom in a meadow that 

 was under water and the flowers pushed up to 

 the surface. The water then subsided leaving 

 them stranded on the top of thick stems some 

 six or eight inches long. In this position they 

 looked more like flowers. 



Arrangements have been completed, whereby 

 the Gray Memorial Chapter of the Agassiz 



mtm 



