THE NIDOLOGIST 
THE NIDOLOGIST. 
AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY 
DEVOTED SOLELY TO 
ORNITHOLOGY 
With Special Reference to the 
NIDIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
H.R. Taytor, Editor and Proprietor 
Dr. R. W. SHUFELDT, of Smithsonian Institution, Associate 
MAGAZINE 
Founded at Alameda, California, September, 1893 
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JOSEPH MAILLIARD, of Nicasio, Cal., is collect- 
ing at Sitka, Alaska. 
WALTER RAINE, of Toronto, is announced to 
have gone to England to dispose of a large collec- 
tion of eggs. He will be sure to sell. 
THE ‘‘North American Naturalist” of Newark, 
N. J., got out one number, and is now moved to 
Nowhere—N. G. 
THE meetings of both the Northern and South- 
ern Divisions of the Cooper Club for June were 
postponed on account of absence of members in 
the field. 
“T am glad you have taken the NIpDOLOoGIS?T 
back to California, for I think it will prosper better 
in that land of birds and flowers. 
Penn Yan, N. Vi. VERDI BURYCH.” 
Is NoT September a little late for ‘‘Ospreys’’ to 
hatch? 
Better 'zamin dem aigs frew de light, Brudder 
Johnsing! 
Ir is said the former editor of ‘‘Avafauna,’’ Los 
Angeles, which disappeared ‘“‘up the lume,” after 
issuing some big promises and two numbers, is 
now the proprietor of a coffee house in that city- 
THE present number is a double one, thirty-two 
pages and cover, to ‘‘catch up,’’ asso much time 
was unavoidably lost by our removal. The sub- 
scribers get just as much matter, but we lose one 
issue’s advertising by the combine. 
HavinG become personally acquainted with 
Prof. A. J. Cook, who was severely criticised in 
No. 5, Vol. 1, of this magazine, in connection 
with his book, ‘‘Birds of Michigan,’’ we are con- 
vinced that we were misinformed at that time, 
and injustice to Professor Cook make this state- 
ment. 
THE advancement of the study of Oology in 
America of late years is truly notable. Collectors 
are exploring Alaska, and over the southern line 
into Mexico, and penetrating fields within our 
boundaries which but few expeditions have 
touched. A great deal of research has been made 
in both the Ornithology and Oology of Lower 
California, while there are now active collectors 
each season iu Idaho, the Dakotas and in the rich 
country to the North-west. 
The next few years will probably see half ascore 
of collectors of eggs in the far North, and the 
natural tendency will be to give Oology such a 
boom as it has never seen before. Theimportance 
of the science in its relation to Ornithology is now 
recognized, and the publication by the Govern- 
ment of Major Bendire’s ‘‘Life Histories of North 
American Birds” has given the study a prominent 
place in literature, and an impetus which will be 
felt for years to come. 
THIS magazine (allow us to remark very confi- 
dentially) has secured a large circulation,consider- 
ing the hard times which have dominated the 
three years of its existence. It took enterprise, 
patience, hard work and the expenditure o: no 
small amount of capital to achieve success and 
win the high standing which we ‘shall hold for 
years tocome. We could publish a list, covering 
a page, of ambitious bird journals that never lived 
to see a half-year out—died in the suckling stage, 
in fact. The printers’ bills have an aggravating 
way of growing faster than the subscription list. 
We have been there and know all about it, and we 
had no competitor. Asa purely business venture 
most Ornithological journals are a flat failure. 
Shoveling sand is more profitable, for the paper 
requires all the grit, and the money too. We 
estimate that THe Nipo1Locis?’ (and it’s not so 
big as to size) has cos¢us in time and money about 
$5,000, and now that it is a paying success and a 
scientific success, we are satisfied to run it for the 
next fifty years. But just from a business stand- 
point, there are other ways of expending that cap- 
ital. The above remarks are gratis, but we do 
not expect any young publisher to pay the least 
heed in the world to them—at present. 
AN infinite variety of data blanks are used by 
Oologists, aud it seems impossible to originate a 
form which will be adopted by all, and perhaps 
the diverseness serves some useful purpose after 
all,as the data belonging to eggs from a particular 
collection mav be readily separated We object, 
however, to the printed form ‘‘Krom the Collec- 
tion of’’ (John Smith, or whoever he may be) on 
data blanks used with eggs for exchange or sale. 
Sometimes “‘from’’ is omitted, and Thomas Jones, 
it may be, who has received the data and eggs 
into /zs collection, rests under the imputation 
of having purloined them ‘The John Smith Col- 
lection;’’ especially if the legend be printed in 
scare-head type. It wouid certainly seem that 
data that never was really in the “‘collection’’ of 
said John Smith should not be adorned so promi- 
neutly with his name. Of course, there is room 
here for a difference of opinion. 
A plain piece of paper may sometimes answer to 
write data on, but don’t ever use a lead pencil. 
Ink becomes illegible soon enough. It is a good 
plan to be doubly safe by adding the scientific as 
well as the common name of the species, for in 
the course of years old names sometimes go 
through a course of evolution and are lost and 
forgotten. 
a a ee 
ee ee ee eT ee 
