50 KANSAS Academy of ^science. 



then they would always quickly cover their eggs, glide under the water without a 

 ripple, come up at a sufficient distance from me, and make a kind of cackling noise, 

 but would soon return by diving and coming up among the weeds, near the nest, as 

 soon as alone. 



Mr. O. Davie, author of '"Nests and Eggs of N. A. Birds," claims that the birds 

 cover the eggs during the day and sit on them during the night, never going near 

 the nest in the daytime. Mr. Geo. Cantrell says that he has noticed that where the 

 sets are complete, the eggs are covered with vegetable matter and incomplete 

 sets are found uncovered, and the deeper the eggs are imbedded in the refuse mat- 

 ter the more incubated they are, a fresh set just having a thin layer over them. He 

 accounts for this by saying the layer first put on loses its heat after a time and more 

 is put on to keep up the necessary heat. He gives this merely as a theory which 

 will not stand, as facts are what we want. 



Mr. William Smith, observing their nesting in Colorado, says that he took a num- 

 ber of sets that retained their natural color, owing to the nest being built of living 

 grass, although plenty of decaying material was close at hand. This alone would 

 upset the decaying theory. The habit of covering the eggs while off the nest is for 

 the purpose of concealing them from their common enemy, such as hawks, etc., and 

 not for the artificial heat from the decaying vegetation. 



They begin laying about May 10. The number of eggs laid by this species 

 ranges from 3 to 10 — the complement is usually five. The eggs, when fresh, are 

 white, with a slight bluish shade, but soon become stained in their wet bed. A nest 

 of 10, in the collection at the State Normal, measure: 1.7.5x1.20, 1.87x1.21, 1.80x120, 

 1.76x1.21, 1.78x1.22, 1.80x1.22, 1.83x1.23, 1.80x1.20, 1.76x1.22, 1.74x1.20. but the aver- 

 age size is 1.72x1.17. 



LIST OF PLANTS COLLECTED BY THE GARFIELD UNIVERSITY EX- 

 PEDITION OF 1889. 



BY M. A. OAKLETON, MANHATTAN. 



The plants named in this list were collected in the summer of 1889 by a party 

 sent out by the Garfield University, composed of the following persons: N. D. 

 Laughlin, C. C. Willson, Robert Rogers, and the writer, in charge. Most of the spe- 

 cies were obtained in the Rocky Mountain region, from Colorado to the head waters 

 of the Missouri river, but a few were collected on the plains of eastern Colorado. 



For aid in the identification of species, I am very much indebted to Pres. J. M. 

 Coulter, of Indiana State University, who named a great majority of them. Prof. 

 L. H. Bailey named the carices, and Prof. W. A. Kellerman and W. T. Swingle identi- 

 fied some of the fungi. Other species I have determined myself. The species are 

 arranged in tlieir natural orders — the phanerogams according to Luerssen- -and 

 sufficient citations given to facilitate references to their descriptions, with the addi- 

 tion of occasional notes of interest. When no citations are given, descriptions are 

 readily found in Coulter's " Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany." 



Specimens of all the species, with possibly three or four exceptions, are to be 

 found in the Garfield University herbarium, and in my own herbarium. Many of 

 them are also in the herbaria of the Kansas Agricultural College and Indiana State 

 University. 



All the specimens from Limon, Colo, (a station on the Rock Island railroad 

 about 150 miles from the east line of the State), were collected in the first week of 



