32 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Souffriere Bird. — Mr. Fred. O- 

 ber, who is studying the natural history of 

 the islands of the Caribbean Sea, under the 

 auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 contributes some remarkable notes on this 

 bird, in a private letter to the editor of the 

 Forest and Stream. Its notes are describ- 

 ed as " strains of most delicious melody, 

 yet strongly mild and melancholy." It is 

 always heard on the mountain top and no- 

 Avhere else ; its music coming from stunted 

 trees covering and hiding the deep gorges 

 that scan the lip of the crater. No one 

 had ever seen the bird or captured it. It 

 possessed a fascination for the listener that 

 the notes of few birds could command. 

 Fine birds were obtained at an elevation of 

 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. 



W. H. B. 



vigorously pursuing a dove-house Pigeon. 

 The Blackbird would dart at the Pigeon 

 and wheel savagely after it, whenever it 

 turned in its course, but was not seen to 

 strike the Pigeon, whether unable or from 

 want of sufficient courage to approach near 

 enough, we are not prepared to say. Both 

 soon disappeared, and we could only won- 

 der the cause of such a strange proceeding. 



General Items. 



— Louisiana Tanager. — Dr. T. ]\L 

 Brewer in Forest and Stream^ notes the oc- 

 currence of this bird at Lynn, .Mass., dur- 

 ing a violent snow-storm. Its occurrence 

 here is attributed to having been caught in 

 the vortex of a storm — whicii started from 

 the Mexican Pacific coast, — and borne to 

 the shoi'es of the Atlantic. 



— Additions to the Avi-fauna of Il- 

 linois. — I have added one species during 

 the last year, to the avi-fauna of the State. 

 In Cairo, 111., I found the dead body of 

 BuiFon's Long-tailed Jaeger (^Stercorarius 

 Bufforii), shot by some sportsman. Its 

 body floated ashore and was found shortly 

 after being killed. In answer to a commu- 

 nication, Mr. Ridgway thought that it must 

 have been shot near there, or some bird of 

 prey would have taken it, wliich is proba- 

 ble, as the " scavengers of all the earth" 

 clean the river of every imaginable victim, 



dead or alive, that appears Tlie 



Mourning Warbler has also been added by 

 Frank E^ DeWitt, of Chicago. 



W. H. Ballou. 



— On the morning of March 10, our at- 

 tention was attracted to a Crow Blackbird 



We are glad to note the growth of our 

 conteinpoi'ary, the Valley Naturalist. It 

 now has eight pages, and its contents are 

 ably disposed. 



The Naturalists' Directory for 1878, pub- 

 lished by S. E. Cassino, Salem, Mass., 

 has made its appearance. It contains, be- 

 sides a list of the naturalists of North Amer- 

 ica in all branches of natural science, a di- 

 rectory of chemists and physicists, a list of 

 scientific societies, and scientific books. 



We notice that the Temperance Vedette^ 

 of Terrell, Texas, has a department devot- 

 ed to natural history, with G. H. Ragsdale 

 at its head as editor. It is mainly the ex- 

 ponent of Texas ornithology. 



Students of ornithology will find it to 

 their interest to obtain a copy of Wm. Wes- 

 ley's book circular on ornithology, just pub- 

 lished at 26 Essex St., Strand, London. It 

 contains a very complete list of all publish- 

 ed works on birds and their eggs. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard has resumed the pub- 

 lication of his Birds of Florida., and will 

 supplement the work with a treatise on the 

 birds, nests and eggs of Eastern North A- 

 merica. We shall notice this work at great- 

 er length hereafter. 



The science columns of a recent number 

 of the Chicago Tribune contained an arti- 

 cle by Mr. W. H. Ballou, on the " Game 

 Birds of Chicago Market, with an Appen- 

 dix on Mammals." Seventy-five species 

 of birds are noticed. Many names were 

 omitted on account of their extreme varia- 

 bility. 



