180 
[Vol. 7-No. 23 
()KNlTHOLOGll8T 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
—AND— 
OOLOGIST. 
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO 
THE STUDY OP BIUDS, TUEIH NESTS AND EOIiS. 
JOS. M. WAI>E, EJilTOIl, 
With the co-operation of alile Ornithological 
Writers and Collectors. 
SuBscniPTloN—$1.00per annum. Foreign Hubrcrip- 
lion $1.25 —incltiding postage. Specimen 
Copies Ten Cents. 
JOS. M. WADE, Boston, Mass. 
Edwin Sheppard, the Artist. 
In C. H. M’s. able review of Gentry’s 
Nests and Eg<vs in Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 
tlie above artist comes in for a share 
of criticism, and justly, from a stranger's 
standjioint. We have privatel}' called the 
attention of Mr. Sheppard to the defects of 
the plates as they have progressed, and 
we believe that they can hardly be 
charged to him, certainly not the coloring. 
The nests are bad, but why did Gentry 
accept them ? Mdiy did he not take the 
artist out into the fields and show him the 
nests as built? Why did he not bring 
him fine siiecimens to draw from ? We 
give it np, unless his whole mind was cen¬ 
tered on that portrait which was to accom¬ 
pany the last number of his work, free of 
extra charge. We made l\Ir. Shejipard’s 
accpiaintance through the kindness of ^Ir. 
Robert Ridgeway. He drew for us the 
four Fish Jltnck and litiUl Etit/Ie scenes 
which have apjie.ired on the cover of the 
O. and O. ; also the Pigmy Owl, which ac¬ 
companied Dr. Wood’s article, and the 
jiair of Great-honied Owls in sm ill circu¬ 
lar cut which has appeared in our adver¬ 
tising column. We also employed him to 
copy three of Audubon’s largest paintings, 
two in New York and one at Morestown, 
N. J. They were of course reduced for 
book work. He gave us perfect satisfac¬ 
tion. He was rccommendeil to us by Mr. 
Ridgeway as the best artist he knew to 
jiaint birds in motion. We know him to 
be one of our best artists and a thorough 
gentleman. Unfortunately he has too ht- 
tle of what Mr. Gentry has too much. 
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club. 
The October number of the Bulletin is 
before us, and it contains two papers 
which are of great interest to us and 
should be to all ornithologists. We allude 
to the review of Dr. Coues’ New Check List 
from the standpoint of a scientist by W. B., 
and Gentry’s Nests and Eggs of Birds of the 
United States by C. H. M. Poor Gentry, 
if he can stand the quotations made from 
his own book by this writer, he is proof 
against anything. We regret that we 
have not sjiace to quote these two able re¬ 
views entire, but will give the closing 
piragraph of one of them. 
“ Enough has been said to show that 
instead of becoming an authority worthy 
of place amongst the standard works on 
N. A. Ornithology, IMr. Gentry’s book on 
nests and eggs must inevitably find its 
level alongside such unreliable and worth¬ 
less productions as Jasper’s Birds of 
“ North America” and similar trash. In 
other words, instead of a work of scientific 
value, we have apoi^ular jncture book, well 
adapted for the amusement of children.” 
This was crowded out of our November 
number. 
On Time. 10-12-’8‘2. — Chas. E Bellows. 
Ph. G., writes: “ Enclosed find $1.01) for the 
next volume of the O. and O. I would 
not be without it, and hojie you will have 
a large increase of subscribers for your 
next volume. Everything is so Oritjinnl 
that it is worth twice the price you ask for 
it. ” We receive lots of good words of this 
kind, and as it is a volunteer magazine, we 
ask our readers to spend a little time in 
trying to induce one more subscriber. 
We regret to have to say that the jiresent 
volume has not jiaid its own cash outlay. 
