THE OOLOGIST 



13 



skin it and I presented it to my 

 father for his collection. 



H. H. Bailey. 



Newport News. Va. 



American Osprey at Ft. Worth, Texas. 



As I was making a trip in R. Gra- 

 ham's sailboat, "Sea Gull" on Lake 

 Worth, nine miles north east of Fort 

 Worth, Texas, I observed the Ameri- 

 can Osprey in the act of catching fish. 

 This country is in their breeding 

 range, but is rarely ever seen around 

 Port Worth. 



Earl E. Moffat. 



A GIFT FROM NATURE. 



Here is a gift from Nature. A gift 

 that is perfect in its simplicity, beau- 

 tiful in its meanest existence and 

 harmless in its beauty. 



Nature has given to us beauty in 

 abundance, the trees, birds, flowers, 

 butterflies and all living things. Each 

 living thing a volume of beauty and 

 harmony. 



The humblest little worm in its 

 crawling existence has grace and 

 beauty, and will after the transforma- 

 tion delight the eye in its wonderful 

 blending of colors. A thing now of 

 gentle harmony and beauty, as it 

 smiles in the bright sunlight and ma- 

 gestically sips the nectar of the flow- 

 ers. And well it is said that as they 

 sail and glide along among the gras- 

 ses and flowers, they are telling the 

 little worms of a life to come, but not 

 of a life through Death but of a life 

 through living. And a glad message 

 it is because it is unconditional, ex- 

 cept in one part, "Violate not the laws 

 of Nature." Happy are they and well 

 may they be so, because tliey are un- 

 encumbered by superfluous laws. They 

 have no moral laws because Nature 

 knows no immorality. They have no 

 debts except one, and that is that 

 they live the life established by pre^ 



cedence and then complete Nature's 

 cycle by the reproduction of their 

 kind. 



Cecil Brown, 

 Pipestone, Minn. 

 The foregoing accompanied one of 

 the most beautifully prepared and per- 

 fect glass encased specimens of the 

 common Yellow Butterfly we have 

 ever seen, and the sentiment accom- 

 panying it is so charming, we pub- 

 lish it here. — Ed. 



FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Last Friday, December 10th, Mr. 

 Frank M. Chapman, the well known 

 Ornithologist from the New York Mu- 

 seum was to lecture before the Buffalo 

 Society of Natural Science "From 

 Lake Lerel to Snow Line in Mexico," 

 with moving pictures. The previous 

 day we received a telegram from his 

 wife in Florida that he was seriously 

 ill, had to undergo an operation and 

 was confined in a dark room, and his 

 engagement had to be cancelled. We 

 all, that know Mr. Chapman, hope that 

 he may recover from this ordeal. 



His place was taken by Dr. Cum- 

 mings, an efficient member of our So- 

 ciety. His topic was "Six months in 

 New Zealand," illustrated. 



Ottomar Reinecke. 



Rarities. 



On the 3rd of December two of my 

 friends from Niagara Falls came to 

 Buffalo in their auto and brought me 

 a fine adult specimen of a Skna or Sea 

 Hawk which had been sicked up in 

 the gorge of the falls. There is only 

 one record of one being shot in 1886 

 by the late Charles Linden, Buffalo's 

 naturalist. 



It is blackish brown, the feathers 

 more or less tipped with chestnut 

 spots; shafts of the wing and tail 

 feathers, excepting toward the tip; 

 more or less streaked with white and 



