THE OSPREY. 



51 



THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 



JNO. H. SAGE, SECRETARY OF THE UNION. 



THE fifteenth annual Congress of the American Mr. Abbott H. Thayer further demonstrated his 



Ornithologists' Union was held in New York theory of the principles of the protective coloration 



City, November 8-11, at the American Museum in an open-air talk. He was listened to with marked 



of Natural History. Monday the Hth was devoted to a attention. 



meeting of the Council at Mr. Butcher's, and to the Wednesday evening Mr. D. G. Elliot gave an illus- 



evening or business meeting of the active members in trated lecture on 'A Naturalist's Expedition to East 



the Board Room at the Museum. The public meet- Africa' before an audience of 1,500 people in the 



ings, continuing for three days, commenced Tuesday, large lecture hall of the Museum, 



and were held in the Library of the Museum. The report of the Committee on Protection of 



The officers of the previous year were re-elected. North American Birds, giving the progress of the 



viz.: Wm. Brewster, President; Dr. C. Hart Merriam work done by the committee during the past year, 



and Robert Ridgway, Vice Presidents ; Jno. H. Sage, was read by the chairman, Mr Dutcher. It was an 



Secretary ; and Wm. Dutcher, Treasurer. The va- interesting and valuable document, and will be pub- 



cancy existing in the Council, caused by the death of lished in pamphlet form. 



Major Bendire, was filled by the election of Mr. Mr. Frank M. Chapman gave an exhibition of lan- 



Ruthven Deane, of Chicago. One active and eighty- tern slides of birds in nature, from material furnished 



eight associate members were elected. by members of the Union. Prof. A. S. Bickmore 



The public meetings opened with a paper by Mr. followed with lantern slides showing recent advances 



Sylvester D. Judd, entitled 'Protective Adaptations in methods of visual instruction. 



of Insects from an Ornithological Point of View.' Dr. Coues remarked upon certain Laridce; Dr. 



Mr. Judd said, among other things, that recent in- Jonathan Dwight, Jr. showed a Puffin new to North 



vestigations of stomachs of birds by the U. S. Biolog- .-Vmerica, and Mr. Chapman gave an informal talk on 



ical Survey has shown that many species of insects the Gyrfalcon. 



commonly supposed to be completely protected by Several drawings of birds by Mr. Louis Agassiz 



color, or otherwise, are largely eaten by birds. This Fuertes were exhibited. His picture of the Cooper's 



is contrary to the theory formerly held and asserted Hawk attracted much attention, 



by writers on protective adaptation. The next meeting of the Union will be held in 



A memorial address on Major Charles E. Bendire, Washington, D. C, commencing Noxember 14, 1898. 



U. S. A., one of the founders and a distinguished In addition to those already mentioned, the follow- 



member of the Union who died in the past year, was ing papers were read at the Congress ; 

 prepared by Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. A. Owing to 

 the unavoidable absence of the author it was read by 

 Mr. D. G. Elliot. 



Through the kind permission of Miss Maria R. 

 Audubon, Dr. Elliott Coues exhibited the portfolio 

 carried in Europe and America by John James Audu- 

 bon, and also the original manuscript of the first 

 volume of his 'Ornithological Biography.' Two 

 original drawings by John Woodhouse Audubon were 

 shown. Dr. Coues stated that Miss Audubon was 



The Summer Birds of the Catskill Mountains, vvitli remarks 



upon the I'"aunae of the Region. — Edwin I Haines. 

 Summer Birds of the West Virginia Spruce belt. — William C. 



Rives. 

 Is Uniformity in Local Lists Possible? — Jonathan Dwight, Jr. 

 Ten days among the Birds of Northern New Hampshire. — 



John N. Clark. 

 Some Notes on Liberian Birds.— Harry C. Obkrholskk. 

 Remarks on a New Theory of the Origin of Bird Migration. — 



J. A. Allkn. 



Experiences of an Ornithologist in Mexico. — F. M. Chapman. 



about to publish an entirely new biography of her The Great Roosts on Gabberet Island, opposite North St. 



illustrious grandfather, together with copious extracts Louis.— o. Widmann. 



The Terns of Gull Island, N. V 



from some of his journals only recently discovered. 

 It is her purposg to reprint in this work the ' Deline- 

 ations of American Scenerv and Manners ' which were 

 interpolated in the famous ' Ornithological Biogra- 

 phies.' 



J. Harris Reed. 

 The Petrels of Southern California. — A. W. Anthony. 

 The Terns of Muskeget Island, Mass. -GtORGK H. Mackay. 

 Northern Raven Breeding in New England. — H. K. Job. 

 Breeding Habits of the Common Robin in Eastern Massachu- 

 setts. — Reginald Heber Howe. Jr. 



PECULIAR WORK OF CLIFF SWALLOWS. 



ERNEST ADAMS, SAN JOSE, CAL. 



JUST before the swallows began to build their two inches in diameter, and, of course, made of mud, 



nests and during the first week of their labor in as are their bottle-shaped nests. After building it un- 



that line, all combined to construct a tunnel broken for five feet they stopped work on it and turned 



which rested on a board nailed to the side of a barn their attention to the construction of nests. Since the 



few inches below the eaves. The tunnel was about completion of the tunnel no use has been made of it. 



