84 



THE OOLOGIST 



General Items. 



— M. A. BouCARD, who has spent five 

 months studying the ornithology of Costa 

 Rica, collected 250 species of birds, many 

 of which are new to science, and many oth- 

 ers are of rare occurrence. . . . The late 

 English Arctic Expedition collected sixteen 

 species of birds on the shores of the Polar 

 Basin, and north of 82^ North Latitude. 



Chicago Tribune. 



— Professor Duges, of Mexico, in a 

 recent letter to the Smithsonian Institution, 

 speaking of the enormous numbers of the 

 common Cow Bird, or 3Ioluthrus pecoris, 

 in his neighborhood, refers to a certain 

 flight supposed to have been 12,000 yards 

 iu length, six yards wide, and probably 

 over a yard deep, and estimates the num- 

 ber contained in it to be from nine to ten 

 millions. A flock of one or two thousand 

 of these bix'ds is very common, generally 

 mixed with the Xanthornus icterocephalus., 

 and to some extent with the Red-winged 

 Blackbird. JETarper's Weekly. 



— Early in the morning, if the collector 

 will take his position near the foot of a tall, 

 decayed tree, and imitate the notes of dis- 

 tress of a young bird, if the locality is of 

 the right kind, the decoy will generally suc- 

 ceed iu bringing about birds of prey, who 

 will naturally alight for a moment upon 

 the top of the tree, which the collector must 

 keep covered with his gun. In this way 

 good specimens may be procured without 

 much difficulty, whose capture by other 

 methods might be impossible. We have 

 tried this method with great advantage, for 

 some species is pretty sure to be allured by 

 it, if within hearing distance. The same 

 decoy may be used with success in discov- 

 ering the whereabouts of small species, and 

 in calling to one those which might be pur- 

 sued for hours without being secured. The 

 more excruciating the imitation, of course 

 the more potent will it be in alluring little 

 birds. Spring and summer are the times 

 when such stratagems may be most suc- 

 cessfully employed. 



— The science department of the Chica- 

 go Tribune is edited by W. H. Ballou, 

 whose name will be recognized in connec- 

 tion with this journal. 



Jtcccut JhxbU cations 



AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



A new journal iu the scientific field is the 

 Meteorologist., a small 8vo monthly devoted 

 to the subject of meteorology. • Its object 

 is a good one, since it should encourage ob- 

 servation on the part of young scientists 

 throughout the country. It might be print- 

 ed better. 



Familiar Science still continues to con- 

 tain fresh things about the birds. Dr. Wm. 

 Wood's series of papers on the Birds of 

 Connecticut appear in each number. 



Science Observer., of Boston, conducted 

 by the Boston Scientific Society, though not 

 an ornithological publication, merits notice 

 as a contribution to the scientific serials of 

 the day. Its subjects of discussion are al- 

 most wholly astronomical. 



The Birds of Neiv York, by C. Hart 

 INIerriam, M. U. — The great want of an 

 authentic work upon the birds of New York, 

 and the abundance of material which has 

 accumulated since the publication of De- 

 Kay's state work, have called upon Dr. 

 Merriam to bring together the existing his- 

 tory of the birds into as exhaustive a treat- 

 ise as possible. He has had ample means 

 of procuring the desired information respect- 

 ing the habits of little known species, and 

 proposes to discuss minutely the general 

 habits, nests, eggs, and descriptions of each 

 species. This work will be important be- 

 cause it will contribute another to the series 

 of local ornithologies, and also because it 

 will be thorough. Dr. Merriam states that 

 it will require three years to complete the 

 work. Collectors living in this state or in 

 localities contiguous to it are invited to cor- 

 respond with the author, and to furnish 

 notes upon the eggs and breeding habits of 

 as many species as possible. 



