TWENTY-FIBST ANNUAL MEETING. 63 



before. The Western Grebe is a much larger bird than any of the other grebes which 

 occur in Kansas. Dr. Cooper, who has studied this grebe on the Pacific coast, 

 remarks that it greatly resembles the loon in its habits. It can dive and swim under 

 the water with the greatest ease, and when once risen above the surface, can fly with 

 rapidity. It is described as being a fine-looking bird as it sits on the water, riding 

 very lightly, its long neck erect, and its bill pointing horizontally forward. Its 

 length of neck makes the motion during the act of diving a very peculiar one. When 

 it flies, both its feet and neck are outstretched. The colors of certain parts which 

 are very beautiful in life, change and fade after death. 



3. The third addition to our avi-fauna is Clark's Nutcracker, Picicorvus columbi- 

 mius Wilson. The capture of a specimen of this bird was reported to me on Au- 

 gust 13, 1888, by Mr. L. L. Jewell, of Irving. The specimen was shot on August 12, 

 near the south line of Marshall county, by Mr. Chas. Metz. The wings and tail were 

 forwarded to me for identification. Mr. Jewell states that the bird had breakfasted 

 upon a variety of seeds, not including those of the pine cone, showing that the spe- 

 cies is capable of doing entirely without that article of food which predominates in 

 its mountain diet. 



On the 1st of October, Dr. Louis Watson, of Ellis, who has made so many contri- 

 butions to our knowledge of the Kansas bird fauna, wrote to me announcing that he 

 had certainly seen two Clark's Nutcrackers together in a narrow strip of timber on 

 his farm. He says: "They were not wild, as I repeatedly saw them within five or 

 six rods. I returned to the house for my gun, but did not find them in that portion 

 of the timber through which I could drive. I am very sorry that I did not get a 

 specimen for you. They were of a grayish color, bill rather long, and in their short 

 flights showed a broad white stripe across the wing, and in the much-expanded tail 

 much white exterior to a white center. There can be no doubt but the birds were 

 Picicorvus columbiamis, of Wilson." 



I can find no record of the previous occurrence of the bird at any point east of 

 the Rocky Mountains. The fact of its appearance in both Marshall and Ellis coun- 

 ties on dates more than six weeks apart, considered in connection with the well-known 

 gregarious character of the species, indicates the probability that it entered the State 

 in considerable numbers. This is certainly a remarkable instance of separation from 

 natural habitat. Dr. Coues states that the range of this species is nearly coincident 

 with that of coniferous vegetation in the West. It rarely descends below an altitude 

 of 3000 feet above the base of the mountains, and has been observed on peaks 10,000 

 feet high. The omnivorous character of the bird, however, seems to give it the 

 power of adapting itself to a new habitat. Dr. Coues states that it is an indiscrim- 

 inate feeder upon vegetable substances, giving preference to the seeds of the pine, 

 berries of the cedar, and acorns. Mr. T. M. Trippe states that it occasionally visits 

 the slaughter-houses, and like a true crow, seems to be quite omnivorous, cramming 

 its hungry maw with everything that will satisfy its voracious appetite. 



A LIST OF THE KANSAS SPECIES OF PEEONOSPORACEAE. 



BY W. T. SVi'INGLE, 

 Assistant Botanist Kansas Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kansas. 



This list has been prepared with the following objects in view: First, to include 

 all species known to occur within the State. Second, to attempt to show something 

 of the phaenology of the species, though unfortunately, Kansas species have not been 

 observed long enough to give results of much value in this line. It has been thought 



