THE WILSON QUARTERLY. C7 



^ectives enough in their vocabulary to apply to me, and 

 when strong language failed them, in their imi.K)tent fury^, 

 they fell to pecking the limbs on which they stood, snapped 

 at and broke off the twig-s, and even lit on the gix)und near 

 me and tore up the earth with tkeir bills, perfectly beside 

 themselves with rage. 



Although their range in Washington crowds up to the 

 pine belt, evergreen timber does not seem congenial to 

 them. On this account their presence west of the Cascade 

 mountains has not been recorded, as nearly as I can find 

 out, except in the f*)llowing instance. On October 7ths, 

 1890, in that time of year when non-migrants have nothing 

 to do but to loaf around and kill time, I met a party of 

 about twenty sight-seeing magpies within a mile of th« 

 sea shore and at least a hundred miles west of their usuai 

 range. 



The magpie is a notable bird; but after all, obscurity is 

 the best passport to long life According to Nicollet mag- 

 pies were once common in Cook County, Illinois, but now 

 they are rare anywhere east of the Rockies, At this rate 

 one might almost be led to think that they must ere long 

 join the bisoa. Perhaps, however, when it conies to the 

 test, their native cunning will stand them in hand in the 

 struggle for existence even better than it has with the 

 crow. 



REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT FOR THE WORK OF 

 1801. ON THE FRINGILLID^. 

 The following report has been compiled from notes re- 

 ceived from members of the chapter from several states : 

 Messrs. John A. Donald. Decatur, and Chas. D. Oldright, 

 Austin, Texas; Messrs. F. M. McKlfresh, Champaign, and 

 F. A. Gregory, Rockford, Ills. ; Messrs. C. P. Howe, Wau> 

 kesha, J. N. Clark, Meridian, and R. M. Strong, Wau- 

 watosa. Wis.; Mr. D. D. Stone, Lansing, N. Y. ; Mr. ,H, P. 

 T. Weathern, West Farmington. Maine; Mr. John H. Sage, 

 Portland, Conn.; Mr. J. W. P. Smithwick, SansSouci, N. C.> 



