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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Thirty-fifth Congress of the 

 A. O. U. 



The thirty-fifth convention of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union was 

 held at the Agassiz Museum, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., on November 12-14, 

 1917. It was well attended, with repre- 

 sentatives from man}' states, and a 

 number of interesting and valuable 

 papers were presented. Among these, 

 a paper by Frank M. Chapman, Curator 

 of the American Museum at New York, 

 entitled "An Ornithological Journey 

 From the Tableland to the Tropics of 

 Peru," and one by Robert Cushman 

 Murphy of Brooklyn, N. Y., on "The 

 Explorations of Rollo H. Beck in South 

 America and the West Indies for the 

 Brewster-Sanford Collections," seemed 

 of peculiar interest, — both of these 

 papers being illustrated by lantern 

 slides. 



A resume of the principal ornitholo- 

 gical work of 1917 was given by Dr. T. 

 S. Palmer, of the Biological Survey at 

 Washington, followed by a discussion 

 by the members. 



Some remarkable motion pictures of 

 the home life of a lion were shown, 

 these being taken by the Hon. George 

 D. Pratt. 



A very interesting series of "Respon- 

 sive Notes of some African Bush 

 Shrikes" was given by Dr. Glover M. 

 Allen of The Boston Society of Natural 

 History. This peculiarity of a short 

 song or series of notes, given by two 

 different birds as a responsive call, 

 seems quite remarkable, — in each 

 instance the harmony of the notes and 

 time of their utterance being such as 

 to indicate the performance being 

 given by a single bird. 



"The Future of Federal Bird Reser- 

 vations" was presented by Dr. George 

 W. Field, of Washington, D. C. Dr. 

 Charles W. Townsend of Boston gave 

 his very interesting paper "In Audu- 

 bon's Labrador," illustrating the route 

 taken through this northern territory 

 by the great naturalist in the early part 

 of the nineteenth century, and compar- 

 ing the birds found by Audubon at that 

 time with the species of the present 

 day throughout the same range. Many 

 other interesting and valuable papers 

 were given at these meetings, which 

 were open to the public and were well 

 patronized. 



Five Associates were raised to the 



rank of Members, — these being Mes- 

 srs Rollo H. Beck, Winthrop S. Brooks, 

 James P. Chapin, Francis H. Harper' 

 and Dr. Winsor M. Tyler, all well- 

 known ornithologists who have done 

 commendable work in their various 

 spheres. One hundred and twelve new 

 Associates were also elected to mem- 

 bership in the Union. Mr. Arthur 

 Humble Evans of Cambridge, England, 

 and Mr. William Lutler Sclater of 

 London, were elected Honorary Fel- 

 lows, and Mr. F. E. Beddard of Lon- 

 don, a Corresponding Fellow. 



To Train Seagulls as "Spotters" of 

 Submarines. 



If the scheme of Dr. A. D. Pentz, Jr., 

 of New Brighton, L. L, works out the 

 Prussians will have an immense num- 

 ber of new enemies added to their al- 

 ready long list of foes. Doctor Pentz 

 wants to mobilize the seagulls against 

 the U-boats and teach the "feathered 

 airplanes" to act as scouts for the al- 

 lies. 



Chimerical as that may sound, it is 

 receiving the serious attention of the 

 navy department and has been en- 

 dorsed by distinguished scientists and 

 men of note. The National Associa- 

 tion of Audubon Societies has taken a 

 decided interest in the matter, and it is 

 through that association that Doctor 

 Pentz has made the scheme public. 



"The U-boat menace is so serious," 

 says T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of 

 the association, "that every means 

 should be employed to counteract it. 

 Naval officers who have discussed this 

 matter with me believe there is merit 

 in the scheme proposed. 



"I consider the submersible craft as 

 a gigantic fish, the presence of which 

 can be detected at a considerable 

 depth by the sharp eyes of the sea gulls, 

 for these creatures are nature's air- 

 planes. In the U-boat zone the British 

 officers have from time to time learned 

 of the presence of the German under- 

 sea fighters through the action of the 

 gulls, as flocks of the birds are fre- 

 quently attracted by the shining peri- 

 scopes. 



"The appliance we consider using is 

 a hopper, 54 inches long, made of sheet 

 steel, and securely bolted to the top of 

 the submarine. In this receptacle chop- 

 ped fish is placed. This bait rises to 



