186 



THE OOLOGIST. 



statements that the young of the En- 

 glish Cuckoo ejected the eggs and 

 young of the bird in whose nest 'they 

 were hatched, before the young cuckoo 

 was twenty-four hours old, and that 

 they had, at this period, a depression 

 in the anterior portion of the back to 

 enable them the more easily to effect 

 this ejection. He illustrated his pa- 

 per by drawings and photos, and ap- 

 parently abundantly proved his con- 

 tention. Dr. Dwight gave a paper on 

 "Plumages and Status of the White- 

 winged Gulls of the Genus Larus," 

 illustrating his remarks with a con- 

 siderable series of skins. He con- 

 tended for the elimination of one 

 recognized form, and for the recogni- 

 tion of another new form. A paper by 

 Arthur T. Wayne, Mount Pleasant, S. 

 C, on "A Contribution to the Orni- 

 thology of South Carolina, pertaining 

 chiefly to the Coast Region," in the 

 absence of the author, was read by 

 Mr. Brewster. The list of species 

 covered was quite a lengthy one, and 

 was fully annotated. Mr. T. S. Palmer, 

 in the absence of the author, read 

 a paper by O. Widman, St. Louis, 

 Mo., on "Should Bird Protection Laws 

 be in the Hands of the National Gov- 

 ernment?" The author contended 

 that inasmuch as the birds were the 

 guests of the nation, rather than of 

 any one state, the National Govern- 

 ment should have the supervision of 

 their protection, thereby securing a 

 uniform law, which otherwise could 

 not be secured. Mr. Thomas S. Rob- 

 erts, of Minneapolis. Minn., then read 

 the paper postponed from the day be- 

 fore, "A l^apland Longspur Tragedy," 

 illustrated by lantern slides. On the 

 night of March 13th, 1904, during a 

 heavy migration flight of these birds 

 in southern Minnesota and northern 

 Idaho, a severe snow storm occurred 

 in this region, during which thousands 

 of these birds struck the buildings, 

 telegraph poles, wires, and the ice 



on lakes, many being instantly killed, 

 and others injured, some of the latter 

 being revived in houses, and afterward 

 liberated Mr. Thomas stated that a 

 conservative computation of the num- 

 ber which was killed was 750,000, but 

 that he fully believed that 1,000,000 

 would be more nearly a correct es- 

 timate. 



The afternoon session was held at 

 the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 

 Sciences. Mr. F. A. Lucas in behalf 

 of the Institute welcomed the Union 

 to the Institute. Mr. Lucas was elect- 

 ed chairman of the meeting. Mr. Geo. 

 K. Cherrie, New York City, spoke on 

 "The Hoatzin and other South Amer- 

 ican Birds." The exhibition of speci- 

 mens to illustrate this paper were 

 viewed later. Cherrie spoke of the 

 habits of this interesting bird, which, 

 while young, has claws on the wings, 

 used like the hooks on the wings of 

 bats, to assist in climbing. They are 

 lost before the bird reaches maturity. 

 The species nests where the structure 

 will be over the water when the eggs 

 are laid, and the eggs are not laid 

 until the river rises sufficiently to 

 inundate the lower part of the tree in 

 which the nest is built. The last paper 

 of the congress was "Among the Wa- 

 ter Birds of Southern Oregon," by 

 William L. Finley, of Portland, Ore- 

 gon. This paper was illustrated by a 

 very large series of beautiful slides, 

 showing the bird life in the great rook- 

 eries- of this still wild region. The 

 congress was then adjourned. 



The members were served with re- 

 freshments by Mr. and Mrs. Lucas, 

 and the exhibitions of specimens in 

 the museum, were afterward viewed. 



On the morning of the 17th, the 

 members visited the New York Aquar- 

 ium, and then went to the New York 

 Zoological Park, where they were en- 

 tertained by Mr. Beebe, who served re- 

 freshments. 



B. S. BOWDISH. 



