80 THE NIDOLOGIST 
THE NIDOLOGIST. 
AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE 
DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 
ORNITHOLOGY, 
With Special Reference to the 
NIDIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
H. R. TAYLOR, Editor and Publisher, 
Associated with Dr. R. W. SHUFELDT. 
WE EXPOSE FRAUDS. 
Official Organ Cooper Ornithological Club of the Pacific Coast. 
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Entered at the New York Post Office as mail matter of the second class. 
Tue New York papers have recently published long 
accounts of the theft of $10,000 worth of specimens 
from Yale’s museum by A. H. Verrill, of New Haven, 
Conn., whom, it will be remembered, the NpIOLOGIST 
was obliged to expose, in its October (1893) number, 
as a hand painter of birds’ eggs. Among Verrill’s 
achievements at that time was the sale of seven /z7- 
tles eggs for Carolina Paroquets, for which he received 
$1o each. Verrill was literally an ~tistic cheat, and 
the notorious Dr. Smith, of Malden, of Ivory-billed 
Woodpecker fame, wasn’t “in i!" with him. His re- 
cent peculations consisted chi -y of archeological 
specimens. Many have been recovered from dealers 
to whom he sold them. In some cases he substituted 
cheap imitations in the museum for the stolen orig- 
inals. It is said that his father, a highly respected 
professor in Yale College, has made good the loss, 
and that the young man will not be prosecuted. Ver- 
rill is said to be a good taxidermist, and it is a pity he 
has gone wrong. ; 
A Standard Egg Catalogue. 
Our ‘“‘Standard American Egg Catalogue”’ will be 
all the name implies. Carefully prepared with the 
assistance of representative active collectors, and those 
who handle large quantities of eggs in exchanging, it 
cannot fail to be a fair basis, and as such will be 
adopted and continued in use by collectors for some 
time to come, conforming as it does to the nomencla- 
ture of the new ‘‘A. O. U. Check List.” We have 
fixed the price to meet the convenience of every col- 
lector. It will be out on time. We have no ‘‘ax to 
grind” or instruments to sell. Cool judgment and all 
available information alone influence us in fixing 
prices. There will be only one ‘‘ standard,” and that 
one indispensable. 
WE are informed on good authority that Avifauna 
is dead. Two numbers did it, the last being Novem- 
ber. Espousing a dishonest cause may have been 
partly the cause of this brilliant failure. The birds 
sing long over untold graves of ambitious but short- 
lived ‘‘ bird papers.” 
I HAVE received the December number of the 
NIDOLOGIST, a magazine which is the exponent of 
American Ornithology and Odlogy. Among the con- 
tents are a report of the thirteenth Congress of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union held in the United 
States National Museum, Washington. Itis pleasing 
to note that quite a number of ladies attended the 
Congress. A portrait group is given of the officers 
and principal members of the Union. There is also 
an excellent drawing of the nesting place of the 
Duck Hawk, a bird of prey of the Falcon species, 
and an engraving of a portion of Heligoland, show- 
ing the great Monk Rock and adjacent cliffs, whereon 
millions of birds alight on migration. A new cover 
with beautiful sketches of birds, and notes on Carolina 
birds, the Dickcissel, Thrushes, etc., add interest to 
the number. The magazine affords English Orni- 
thologists the means of becoming acquainted with the 
habits of rarer American birds. It is edited by Mr. 
Henry Reed Taylor, with whom is associated Dr. R. 
W. Shufeldt; of the Smithsonian Institution.—Vew- 
castle-on- Tyne Chronicle. 
WE had an interesting talk with Mr. C. P. Wilcomb, 
curator of the Golden Gate Park Museum, San Fran- 
cisco, who paid our office a visit recently. He had 
just completed a successful tour, gathering up Colonial 
relics for the ‘‘ Colonial Room” of the museum. The. 
Park Museum is receiving constant additions to its 
valuable collection. Among rarities it possesses the 
famous Doré vase, which cost $40,000. The natural 
history department occupies one floor of the main 
building, and besides this there are ‘* Aboriginal Hall,” 
“Oriental Hall,” ‘* Jewel Hall,” a valuable depart- 
ment devoted to a display of California food fishes, 
etc. An annex of two stories is now being built. 
Birds and mammals are represented in the Gruber 
collection, which has been purchased; also others do- 
nated, including Dr. Prill’s collection of birds’ eggs. 
Large crowds visit the museum daily. 
Mr. C. W. Marcuant, of West Redding, Conn., 
writes us: ‘‘In my rambles last spring I found a 
Ruffed Grouse on her nest in almost the same po- 
sition as the one in the picture in the NIDOLOGIST. 
The bird’s mate stood about three feet away, and I 
approached within four or five feet before either took 
wing. The nest contained ten eggs, and was placed 
at the foot of an elm tree in a swale ona high hill, and 
{ find them there each year, in about the same spot.” 
Comment in England. 
Tue NipoLocist’s happy combination of bright- 
ness, scientific accuracy, and records of field natural- 
ists’ works has been a constant source of instruction 
and entertainment. It came out in December with a 
new and nicely illustrated cover, and some illustra- 
tions very artistically reproduced, particularly the 
view of a corner of the headland of the island of 
Heligoland, ‘‘the magnetic pole ot the bird world.’”— 
Yorkshire Weekly Post. 
Mr. J. H. Bow es, of Ponkapog, Mass., is con- 
gratulating himself over the acquisition of an odd 
specimen of the Rusty Grackle. It was taken Octo- 
ber 24, and is of a uniform silvery-white plumage, 
with greenish-gray iris. Such a ‘‘take”’ is ‘‘a thing 
of beauty and a joy forever.” 
EVERY sort of tent is kept by S. Hemmenway & 
Son, of New York. They are thoroughly reliable, and 
can furnish collecting naturalists with every requisite 
_n their line, 
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