54 



THE OSPREY. 



The Bobolink (Dolschon^ii orysivortts) in Indiana. 

 By A. W. Butler. From Proceedings of the Indiana 

 Academy of Science, i8g6. i6 pages. 



Prof. Butler writes a paper of popular and scientific 

 interest on the distribution and life history of this 

 interesting bird. He quotes the observations of many 

 ornithologists in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. 

 For reference the paper is concluded with a synopsis 

 of these reports received for the years 1885 to i8g6 

 inclusive. As the principal feature of the paper the 

 author deals with the changes in the distribution of 

 the species in its general habitat of the north-central 

 states ; on which he cites some interesting facts. — W. 

 A.J. 



OTHER BOOKS RECEIVED. 



•The Gallinaceous Game Birds of North America,' bv Daniel 

 Girard Elliot, F. R. S. E. 



'Birdcraft,' by Mabel Osgood Wright. New edition with 

 new illustrations by Fuertes. 



'Song Birds and Water Fowl,' by H. E. Parkhurst. 



'Notes on the Godwits [Liniosa),' by E. A. S. Elliot, (England,) 



'A Century's Work on Ornithology in the Kingsbridge Dis- 

 trict,' by Edmund A. S. Elliot, M. R. C. S., M. B. O. U. (Eng- 

 land). 



Dr. G0U6S' Column. 



At the last Congress of the A. O. U. the rare pleas- 

 ure was mine of exhibiting some Auduboniana of pe- 

 culiar interest, through the kind attentions of Miss 

 M. R. Audubon. In the course of my remarks upon 

 the appearance of Audubon in England in 1826, and 

 upon his early tribulations in the way of publishing 

 his folio plates of the Birds of America, I held up to 

 view the identical portfolio in which his paintings 

 were carried and exhibited for the purpose of secur- 

 ing subscribers to his great work. The feeling with 

 which this precious memento was greeted found ex- 

 pression in instant applause, and probably there was 

 none present who did not share my own thrill. 



But the worn old leather receptacle was not empty, 

 even at this late day. Miss Audubon had been 

 thoughtful enough to place between the covers a large 

 package, which was found when opened to contain 

 the original manuscript, in Audubon's handwriting, 

 of nearly all the first volume of the Ornithological 

 Biography,* as made ready by Audubon for the addi 

 tion of those technical portions which were to be 

 supplied by William MacGillivray. 



1 his matter of collaboration in the preparation of 

 the text brought up the unknown and unsuspected 

 fact, that Audubon had once desired William Swainson 

 to take that part which was finally accepted by Mac- 

 Gillivray. I read a letter from Swainson declining 

 to co-operate, for the reason that his name was not 

 to appear as that of joint-author with Audubon ; and 

 congratulated American ornithology upon escaping 

 the infliction of Swainson s quinarian fad, though 

 he was a good naturalist otherwise, and still better 

 draughtsman. 



Going on to speak of other matters of present in- 

 terest, I had the pleasure of assuring the Union that 

 Miss Audubon s new work, entitled 'Audubon and 

 his Journals,' was well on its way through the press, 

 and should soon appear. It would make two hand- 

 some volumes, consisting of a far more extended, 

 accurate, and altogether satisfactory biography of the 

 illustrious ornithologist than had ever appeared, fol- 

 lowed by the nearly complete text of his European 

 Journals of 1820, his Labrador Journal of 1833, and 



*A complete copy of this manuscript, in the handwriting of 

 Audubon's wife, is also in the present possession of the fam- 

 ily, at Salem, N. Y. 



his Missouri River Journal of 1843, together with a 

 textual reprint of the numerous 'Episodes' which 

 are interspersed throughout his biographies of birds ; 

 the whole to be set forth with many portraits and 

 other illustrations. Among these I showed a photo- 

 graph of a never-published painting by J. W. Audu- 

 bon, representing his father as he appeared when just 

 returned from his trip to the Yellowstone in 1843, 

 full-bearded and as rough as one of the grizzly bears 

 he had encountered. The tradition runs in the fam- 

 ily that they had to keep the old man locked up until 

 his portrait was painted, so that he should not seek 

 refuge with a barber. 



Among other matters of present interest which I 

 laid before the Union, in evidence of the deluge of 

 ornithological literature we now suffer or enjoy, was 

 a series of life-size colored plates by Louis Agassiz 

 Fuertes, the extreme beauty and accuracy of which 

 elicited such spontaneous evidence of appreciation on 

 the part of the audience that the modest young artist 

 was left to bear his blushing honors as best he might 

 Since the appearance of 'Citizen Bird' last summer, 

 Mr. Fuertes has enriched another popular bird book 

 with other inimitable figures in black and white ; and 

 arrangements have been made for the appearance of 

 some more of his plates in The Osprey. — E. C. 



Gorrespondence. 



Editor of The Ospre'V : 



As Mr. Dippie and his friend Mr. Walter Raine of 

 Toronto has stated, in his so-called criticism of me 

 in the November number of The Osprey, that the 

 maple does not grow in Assiniboia, I enclose you a 

 letter from the agent of the Dominion Crown Lands 

 Office, Rigina, Assiniboia, stating that it does groii' 

 and flourish in Assiniboia, and that his statement is 

 based upon an experience of fifteen years' residence 

 there. He states also that maple sugar has been made 

 from the trees growing in Assiniboia. 



The Richardson's Merlins were shot off the nest. I 

 know the bird very well. If Mr. Dippie will write 

 Mr J. Parker Norris, Jr , of Philadelphia, Pa., he 

 will find that Mr. Norris has in his possession two 

 sets of five eggs and one set of four eggs ; and if he 

 will call upon Mr. A H Frost of New York, he will 

 probably be allowed to see another set of four eggs ; 

 and then he may send somebody to see my two hand- 

 some sets at Battle Creek, Mich., all of which sets 

 were taken in Assiniboia this year just as stated in 

 my article in the September Ospre\. I can prove for 

 the benefit of Mr. Dippie that the Richardson's Mer- 

 lin and the maple — emblem of his country, Canada — 

 both flourish in Assiniboia. — E. Arnold, Baltle Creek, 

 Mi eh. 



General Notes. 



NOCTURNAL FLIGHTS OF THE TURKEY 

 VULTURE. 

 In San Andreas canyon, 30 miles south and west of 

 Tucson is a Turkey Vulture roost. The vultures 

 congregate to pass the night in a huge Cottonwood 

 tree, the only tree of any size for miles around. Dark- 

 ness had set in when I reached the canyon on May 13 

 of the present year. Camp established and supper 

 over, as I lay wrapped in my blankets listening to the 

 call of the Poor-will and the far-off howl of the coyote, 

 I noticed large dark forms fly to and from the tree. 

 For some time I was at a loss to say what they were 

 until an individual flew within a short distance of 



