62 



THE OOLOGIST 



kitten, four-legged chicken, four- 

 legged duck, etc; 4,000 Indian relics, 

 800 gun and pistol, 10,000 land, fresh 

 water and marine shells, 2,000 min- 

 erals and fossils, 1,000 coins, medals 

 and badges, 5,000 stamps. Pioneer 

 and wat relics galore, and are housed 

 in a two-story building 18 x 36, used 

 solely for same as a free public 

 museum for the advancement of 

 science as is also my scientific library, 

 of over 400 volumes." 



A. W. Dean, 

 Alliance, Ohio. 



MILLIMETER RACES 



Dear Mr. Barnes: 



No criticism of yourself being ex- 

 pressed or implied, in the accompany- 

 ing copy, I trust you may see fit to 

 give it place in the pages of The 

 Oologist. In making this request, 1 

 wish to assure you that I heartily 

 agree with you in the matter of what 

 Dr. Dwight has called "Millimeter 

 Races." No one, perhaps, has cause 

 to feel more of aggravation than I in 

 these matters; as also in that of the 

 changes in scientific names. In the 

 manuscript of my proposed Work on 

 Nesting Habit I have changed certain 

 scientific names as many as six times, 

 during the past five years. I have al- 

 so entered, and again elided, as many 

 as a dozen alleged sub-species, that 

 were not accepted by the A. O. U. 

 Committee. 



A good example is that of the For- 

 bush Sparrow. Mr. Forbush, himself, 

 now doubts the sub-specific validity 

 of his namesake; a position that seems 

 amply justified by the reported find- 

 ing of the Lincoln and the Forbush 

 Sparrow in the same region at the 

 same time! 



I am deeply enjoying the Price List; 

 just dipping into it, here and there. I 

 have also begun to insert the lacking 

 accredited sub-species, but that is a 



grave task. I think you will realize, 

 on reading over my manuscript, that 

 1 have written in perfect good humor, 

 as, indeed, I have. 



I enclose P. M. O. for fifty cents, to 

 cover cost of inserting a Notice of the 

 Separates which it is planned to pro- 

 vide of my Yellow Rail article, which 

 is to contain six thousand words and 

 at least a half-dozen half-tones. One 

 of these will give a portrait of the 

 only live Yellow Rail ever photo- 

 graphed. 



Sincerely, 



P. B. Peabody. 



SALVAGE OF BONES 



On Layson Island in North Pacific | 

 is a huge heap to be used 



In the North Pacific Ocean, 700 

 miles northwest of Hawaii, is a small 

 speck of land called Layson Island. 

 A few years ago it was regarded as 

 one of the wonders of the bird world. 

 Several species of sea birds recog- 

 nized it has a secure harbor, and for 

 ages Albatross, Sooty Tern, Petrel, 

 Boobies and Goonies found homes and 

 breeding places there. At one time 

 it was thought to have a population 

 of a million birds. The Albatross 

 and Tern which once lived there were 

 the largest of sea fowls, and in nest- 

 ing season the island was literally 

 white with the eggs. 



A tenacle of the feather or plume 

 industry reached out to Layson in 

 1909, and in a single season 300,000 

 of the beautiful birds were killed to 

 obtain wings which were marketed in 

 Japan and China. Before poachers 

 were driven off by a revenue cutter 

 fully one-half of the birds were killed. 



Today on every side there are heaps 

 of bones bleached white by the sun, 

 showing where the poachers piled the 

 birds as they stripped them of their 

 plumage. 



The high tides and storms have 



