THE OSPEEY. 



79 



which have, to juy knowledf^e, bred there for 

 several years; while on the east end not a sing"le 

 nest can be found, alhouffh the conditions are 

 practically the same. Furthermore, there is 

 quite an area on the west end well suited to 

 their wants; but they prefer to occupy a narrow 

 strip alony the edg-e of the weeds and place their 

 nests close together, some of them not over two 

 feet apart, others ten at the most, showing- that 

 they prefer to be neighbors. I cannot remem- 

 ber one isolated nest of /•'n/ii;n/a iiian'/a, and I 

 have found many. With the exception of a few 

 Arctic Terns the Scaups held the low land, 

 while on the top of the higher portion of the 

 island, which was comparatively level and cov- 

 ered with dry rank grass in bunches, were to be 

 found nests of the Pintail and Mallard; how 

 many I could not say, but while gathering eggs 

 of the abundant Short-billed Gull Lctnis bracliy- 



rhynchus. for food, I accidentallj- discovered two 

 sets of Pintail's and one of Mallard's. Two of 

 these were within a few feet of each other — one 

 of each species. From the number of birds fly- 

 ing excitedl3- about, 1 judged there were several 

 more nests, but they were too well hidden to be 

 found. I may also mention that while collect- 

 ing in Alaska in 1894, I took no less than six 

 sets of eg-gs of Fuligula marila and two of Mcr- 

 gansif senator ixo\\\ an island about 40 feet in 

 diameter. The island was in a small lake, and 

 there were as many more nests on it. I might 

 mention many other instances of ducks nesting 

 in colonies or in close proximity, but these will 

 answer the purpo.se of this article. It is proba- 

 bly well known that Eiders generally nest in 

 very large colonies. — Ch.v.se Littlejohn, Red- 

 wood City, Cat 



In The Osprey's Claws. 



Tlte Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club. 

 Vol. I, No. 1, for Jau.-Feb., 1899, reaches us 

 promptly and makes an excellent begiuning, 

 upon which the Club is to be congratulated. 

 The new publication opens appropriately with 

 a biography of Dr. James G. Cooper, for whom 

 the Club is named, and of whose ill health we 

 regret to learn. The Club was organized June 

 22, 1S93, and is in full activity, with a large 

 number of energetic workers. Its labors put 

 California distinctly in the lead;tno other state 

 or territory isso well represeuted iu ornithology. 

 The good character of the papers in the Bulletin 

 may be inferred from the samples our readers 

 have hitherto had in The Osprey. The most 

 notable one in the present number is on the 

 nesting of the Fulvous Tree Duck, by Mr. A. M. 

 .Shields. The observations are novel and strik- 

 ing. This Duck builds on the ground in tule 

 marshes; nests with 17 to 32 eggs have been 

 found; moreover, the birds sometimes drop them 

 in the nests of other Ducks and of Coots. The 

 eggs are roughish, dead white, sometimes 

 slightly pyriform, and measure from 1,98 x 1.35 

 to 2.20 X 1.65. A new race of the Brown Towhee 



is desci ilied as Pipilo fiisciis caroler. The editorial 

 notes are gooc , in form and substance.— E. C. 



7 he /Ink for January reaches us, somewhat 

 delayed under the exigency of printing the 

 Ninth Supplement to the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union Check-List— an important matter, 

 occupying pp. 97-133. This gives the additions 

 to and corrections of the Check-List which have 

 come up during the past two years, something 

 like one huudred in number, we supijose, 

 though we have not counted them. There is 

 little fixity in our nomenclature, and we pre- 

 sume that changes iu names will be incessant 

 as long as the science of ornithologv progresses. 

 Mr. Chapman writes on the .Seaside Sparrows 

 an article illustrated with a handsome colored 

 plate by Mr. Fuertes. A readable article is by 

 Mr. O. B. Warren on the Canada Jay, and if 

 imitation be the sincerest flattery, The Osi-rey 

 is flattered by the appearance in this article of 

 four photographic illustrations, quite iu fae 

 style TheOsi'Rey has made fashionable. Pass- 

 ing several strictly technical articles, we come 

 to Mr. D. G. Elliot's very notable and timely pro- 



