New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-10
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS"
THEY ARE NOT LIKE THE ENGLISH ONES,
SAYS MIR SCOTT.
HE EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KILL,
ING FOR SCIENTIFIC AND KILLING FOR
DECORATIVE PURPOSES


The second bird talk In the series which William
z. D. Scott is giving at the home Of Mrs. John
J. White 1r.. No. lOe East Fitty-seventh-st.. took
place yesterday morning. II about North
American Birds" and dealt principally with their
relation the birds Of Europe and those OF the
south and the extreme north.
There is no bird In this country" the lecturer
said (which exactly corresponds TO any in Europe
When ancestors here they transferred
the names OF English birds TO those which mos;
nearly re.embled them. but the birds not the
same Our robin is not the English robin, and our
owf is not the owl of literature. the nearest rea
tive Of the latter IN this country being the barn
owl The birds OF the West more nearly re-
lated 10 the European birds because the conhec-
ton with the Old World came through the West"
Speaking Of tropical BIRDS Mr.. Scott said that
he considered the general idea OF their superiority
IN beauty and br1liancy OF color an erroneous one
There are more kinds of highly colored birds in
the tropics" he said. than IN own latitude
but there none that are more highly colored
than some of ours On the whole. ours to
me a moro conspicuous feature Of the landscape,
beer use the southern harmonize with their
environment. Our birds also made more con-
spicuous than those Of the south by their songs.
In proof Of the above statements, Mr.. Scott ex-
hibtted scarlet tanasers yellow WARRIORS and
cardinal birds They were passed around the class
and admired by the listeners
Tho difference between our birds and those Of
TIE extreme north Is not so marked as between ours
and those OF the south" the lecturer continued.
because most Of tho northern Oh es migrate and
spend much of their time with One popularity
h that they have taken Characteristic In color
which Is undoubtedly protective. They are nearly
ar white"
Before taking up the subject Of the day. Mr..
Scott IN answer 70 q question which member OF
ma class had asked about the difference between
killing birds for decoration and killing them IN
what seemed 70 such unnecessarily large num-
hers for scientific purposes said that u was most
important that the ornitholog1st should know ex-
actlv what a bird is, and IN order TO learn that
he must compare lerse number of specimens.
To Illustrate he said that the QuallS or virginia
Florida and Texas we're so different IN appearance
that thew had been classified distinct specimens,
until thousand specimens had been collected from
yfrlnus localities and Il found that tho Varie-
tbs all shaded into one another 30 that no one
could tell where one began and the other ended:
In spite OF this however, Mr.. Scott THINKS that
ten millions would be wild estimate Of the num-
her OF birds IN all the collections, private ana
public IN the world whereas nearly million are
imported annually into this country for decorative
purposes. ~,
Among those present al the lecture were Mrs.
John d Zerega. Mrs Lorillard Spencer Ms.
Haven Miss Mary White, Miss Madeline Smith,
Mrs Fairchild Miss Hoyt Mrs. Scott and Mrs.
Henry NJ. Sanders.
The next talk will be on Color and Song"