s. 
expressed or iraplied-of most of the leading members of the Union that 
body was under moral obligations to stand by you both at the last and 
to do it handsomely. But the matter should have been handled in some 
other v/ay-as for example by passing a resolution expressing its thanks 
to you and to Dr.Merriam for the service which you had rendered in 
bringing the matter to its attention, its appreciation of the arduous 
and self-sacrificing character of your labors, in collecting the evi¬ 
dence, and its regret at finding that the existence of certain prece¬ 
dents affecting apparently similar cases necessitated the conclusion 
that Dr.Shufeldt's acts, however disgraceful, were not of a nature to 
warrant his expulsion from a purely scientific society. It seems to 
me that such a resolution would have put the case more clearly and ac¬ 
curately and that it would have constituted a more fitting acknowledg¬ 
ment of the really great obligations which the Union is under to you 
and to Dr.Merriam. 
Your motion, adopted by the Council on Nov. 10th, also seems 
to me to have been a rather grave mistake. If the Union could find no 
good or sufficient cause for expelling Dr.Shufeldt what right had its 
Council to pass and record a formal vote directing the Editors of the 
Auk to decline anything and everything that he may offer them for pub¬ 
lication regardless of its intrinsic interest or value ? Does it not 
seem a little like persecution to thus treat a man who remains one of 
our Active Members and whose standing as an ornithologist has not as 
yet been impaired-or even questioned ? Suppose he were to find a re- 
