EDITORIAL 
Z7 
5 
G 
A large number of our subscribers have written to say 
that they have not received copies of the July and August 
numbers of this magazine. For the sake of these and others 
who may contemplate writing, we beg to say that last June 
we adopted the policy of omitting the numbers for July and 
August of each year. At the same time we increased all the 
other numbers of the magazine by four pages each so that 
subscribers will receive just as much for their money as 
formerly, only arranged differently. The volumes now begin 
in September and February and consist of five numbers each. 
The vacation habit has grown so prevalent that many of our 
readers are not at home through the heated term and the 
magazines in consequence are often mislaid or lost. We are 
inclined to think that the majority will favor this new plan 
of issuing the magazines in the months when they have more 
leisure to read. Indexes have been issued for volumes I to 
IV and for volume X. The others will be issued as soon as 
possible and mailed to all subscribers free. 
The agitation in favor of a rearrangement of the rates at 
which magazines and newspapers are carried in the mails has 
resulted in thr exclusion of American Ornithology from the 
second-class mailing privilege. The extra cost of mailing 
the magazine, which this necessitates caused the publishers to 
suspend publication. The magazine was one of the best of 
its class, and we regret very much to see it cease publication. 
The Amateur Naturalist has also fallen under the ban, but its 
editor keeps steadily on his course with no thought of sus- 
pending. 
Each month, before the numbers of this magazine are sent 
out, three hundred copies are reserved for making into com- 
plete volumes, and yet, so lively has been the sale of these, that 
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