62 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



line of Marshall county. Dr. Cooper met with a straggling pair at Fort Kearney, 

 Nebraska, and Mr. G. S. Agersborg, a pair in southeastern Dakota, but like the Kan- 

 sas visitor, accidental wanderers. They are seldom found below an altitude of 4,000 

 feet. This bird has the actions and habits of several species. Like the jays, are at 

 times noisy and in flocks, and when upon the ground, hop about in the same man- 

 ner; it clings like the woodpeckers to the side of a tree while it hunts for, and e-x- 

 tracts from old excavations, interstices of the bark, etc., the various forms of life 

 found therein, and its flight is similar, and in clasping with its sharp claws the cones 

 on the pines, and other coniferous trees, in order to pry with its bill for the seeds, it 

 often hangs head downward, swaying back and forth, with the ease and movements 

 of the Titmice. The birds are very shy, and, at or near their nesting-places, silent. 

 In May, 1879, my brother found the birds breeding near Fort Garland, Colorado. 

 It was too late in the season for their eggs, but in one nest he found young birds; 

 says the old bird sat very close, only leaving when touched by his hand. The nest 

 was built near the end of a horizontal limb of a pine tree, about ten feet from the 

 ground, in an open, conspicuous situation. It was bulky, and coarsely constructed 

 of twigs, sticks, strips of bark, rootlets, grass, moss, etc., and very deeply hollowed; 

 the bird, when on it, showing only part of her bill and tail, pointing almost directly 

 upward. At a distance, would be taken for a squirrel's nest. Capt. Chas. Bendire 

 writes me that, during the month of April, 187*5-8, he found, in the vicinity of Camp 

 Harney, Oregon, quite a number of their nests (described as above) with eggs, and 

 gives the following dimensions of four eggs: 1.30x.92, 1.26x.95, 1.22x.95, 1.20x.90. 

 Usual number, three; ground color, light grayish green, irregularly spotted and 

 blotched with a deeper shade of gray, principally about the larger end; elongate 

 oval in shape, and considerably pointed at the smaller end. 



THREE NEW KANSAS BIRDS. 



BY PROF. H. SNOW, OP THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 



I have the pleasure of announcing the addition of three species to the catalogue of 

 Kansas birds since the last annual meeting of the Academy. These additions are of 

 especial interest since each of the three forms is a typical species and not a colora- 

 tional or local variety of some species previously known to occur in the State. 



1. The first of these birds is the Surf Duck, or Surf Scoter, Oidemia perspicillaia 

 Linn. A young male was shot at Lawrence, October 29, 1887, by Mr. A. L. Ben- 

 nett, a student of the University. This species is abundant along both the Atlantic 

 and Pacific coasts. It is said to be a common winter resident upon Lake Michigan, 

 occurring throughout the State of Illinois during the winter season. Its capture at 

 Lawrence, Kansas, extends its recorded appearance in the interior of the United 

 States by about 400 miles. This individual appeared to be a solitary bird, entirely 

 unaccompanied by other ducks either of its own or any other species. 



2. The second addition to our bird fauna is the Western Grebe, yEchmophorus 

 occidentalis Lawr. A young male of this species was shot on the Kansas river, at Law- 

 rence, November 3, 1887, by a colored man living on the bank of the river, with whom 

 I have an arrangement to bring in any bird of an unusual character which he may 

 capture. This species has not previously been taken farther east than Manitoba, 

 and the Gila river in New Mexico. Its occurrence fit Lawrence extends its eastward 

 range more than a thousand miles. The widening of the Kansas river by the Law- 

 rence mill-dam affords a specially attractive halting-place for waterfowl. It was at 

 the same place that the Surf Scoter was captured by Mr. Bennett only a few days 



