THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



47 



willow bark smoking controversy was 

 published in the last issue of this 

 journal. 



Just as we go to press we have re- 

 ceived from our esteemed contributor, 

 Mr. Walter J. Hoxie, an extremely 

 valuable and original article, being, 

 "A Seminole Vocabulary," among 

 which Indians he has spent consider- 

 able time. 



A copy of number 2 of The Zoolo- 

 gical Quarterly Bulletin, which is 

 being issued apparently under the sup- 

 ervision of Prof. H. A. Surface, the 

 Economic Zoologist of the Penn- 

 sylvania Department of Agriculture, 

 for gratuitous distribution is before 

 us, and we have not the slightest 

 hesitancy in pronouncing it to be, 

 in our judgment, of not much 

 account. It is without a designated 

 editor, but as Prof. Surface is Econo- 

 mic Zoologist, and the author of the 

 "Salutation," which is in this second 

 number as well as the single article 

 which it contains entitled "The Eco- 

 nomic Value of Our Native Birds," 

 we presume he is the editor thereof; 

 but curiously enough no editor is 

 designated and it looks to us as though 

 the Salus-Grady libel law has been 

 violated in the omission. 



In the words of this presumed editor 

 it is "the commonplace and reliable 

 citizens for whom these Bulletins are 

 expressly prepared." This may in- 

 clude the butcher, the baker and the 

 candle-stick maker ; in fact nearly 

 everybody. Had the Biclletin been 

 prepared for farmers and the infor- 

 mation been practical, and judiciously 

 selected, it would in our judgment, 

 have been far more sensible. 



Later on, in the same ' ' Salutation, ' ' 

 we find ' ' Readers may decide for them- 

 selves, after perusing the following 

 pages, as to the class of persons for 

 whom we have w r ritteu." Our guess 

 would be that the Bulletin was writ- 

 ten in the endeavor of its author to 



encourage the people to think that 

 some important work is being done 

 in this department, rather than to 

 satisfy any demand that existed for 

 the information contained therein. 

 We can find absolutely nothing of 

 practical value to the agriculturalist 

 in this Bulletin, and the " Key" of 

 avian families is useless, as it necessi- 

 tates the killing of birds before it 

 can be used. 



The author himself recognizes this, 

 and yet he says: "but many birds are 

 found dead, and these can be utilized 

 in scientific examination." This is 

 nonsense. Who ever heard of a natu- 

 ralist depending upon the finding of 

 dead birds for the conducting of his 

 ornithological studies. The only place 

 to find dead birds without the direct 

 use of a gun, so far as we know, is in 

 a museum or in a collector's cabinet. 

 The old suggested method of the days 

 of our childhood of sprinkling a little 

 salt on the bird's tail and then being 

 able to catch it, would be just about 

 as satisfactory as looking for dead 

 birds and legal exception would hard- 

 ly be taken. 



The Bulletin consists of 10 pages, 

 and in the obscure phraseology of its 

 author — "We shall continue this un- 

 til all Orders and Families of birds 

 treated are at least briefly in their 

 economic aspects or relations to man, 

 although we wish to say now that it 

 is not our intention to make an unin- 

 terrupted series of this treatment in 

 this Bulletin. " Taking into consid- 

 eration the many years that Dr. B. 

 H. Warren gave to the study of our 

 birds prior to the publication of his 

 rather exhaustive work from the stand- 

 point of the economist, along with his 

 many examinations of the stomach 

 contents of birds, and finally the pub- 

 lication of his well written work 

 "The Report on the Birds of Pennsyl- 

 vania, ' ' renders The Quarterly Zoolo- 

 gical Bulletin useless so far as birds 

 are concerned, if the future numbers 

 are to be judged by the copy before us. 



