10 



THE OOLOGIST. 



on to say that he was like that officer, 

 he did not know where he would take 

 himself during his talk. He said he 

 had published a description in the 

 "Auk," fondly thinking that he had dis- 

 covered a new bird, but, in the succeed- 

 ing number Mr. Nelson gently and 

 tenderly said that he didn't know what 

 he was talking about. Mr. Nelson said, 

 however, that he had read a description 

 which exactly tallied with that of Prof. 

 Elliot's. 



The chair then announced that if we 

 would follow Mr. Chapman down into 

 the "dark place," meaning the lecture 

 room, that he would show some stere- 

 optican views of his Mexican trip, to- 

 gether with a series of others, among 

 which were views of the dense tropical 

 vegetation, his camp in the forest, and 

 also a view of a very peculiar nettle 

 plant, which if touched causes a violent 

 stinging wound, having every appeai"- 

 ance of a burn. This plant makes it 

 very uncomfortable some times, when 

 a rare bird is shot and falls in a thicket 

 of them. A number of beautiful yiews 

 of Gulls, Cormorants and the nests and 

 eggs of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yel- 

 low-breasted Chat, Song Sparrow, 

 Veery, and others were exhibited. The 

 three plates showing a Puffin's burrow, 

 its eggs and young were especially in- 

 teresting, and a picture of the young of 

 the Kittiwake in their cliff nest, af- 

 forded a striking example of protection 

 by coloration. 



Prof. AS. Blackmore showed an in- 

 teresting set of plates, examples ot the 

 recent advances in visual instruction. 

 He showed what excellent results could 

 be obtained by placing a properly 

 focused telescope in front of a camera 

 lense, for taking distant pictures, and 

 said that rare specimens might be pho- 

 tographed in this way, the exposure re- 

 quiring but .01 second. A series of 

 views, belonging to the Dept. of Public 

 Instruction were displayed and ex- 

 plained by Mr. Chapman. A field of 



daises and clover was cast upon the 

 canvass and then in another view the 

 feathered inhabitants; and so on a 

 stream and the Kingfisher; the deep 

 wood and its inhabitants. Two slides 

 showing Cormorant life on a small 

 island, west of Hawaii, with its millons 

 of birds and many more millions of 

 eggs. Recently Yankee enterprise has 

 built a railroad through their breeding 

 ground for the purpose of collecting 

 their eggs, which they take by the car- 

 load. 



Wednesday morning was opened by 

 the secretary's report of the preceeding 

 day, after which John N. Clark read an 

 interesting paper on his ten day's trip 

 in the mountains of northern New 

 Hampshire. He seemed to have a happy 

 faculty for finding nests. Among the 

 things which he mentioned was that 

 he discovered a Hermit Thrush's nest, 

 containing four eggs, which his com- 

 panion warned him not to touch, saying 

 that if he did so the bird would either 

 destroy or remove them. Laughing 

 and saying that he was not so super- 

 stitious, he examined them, and im- 

 agine his surprise when upon returning 

 again, he found the nest empty. Upon 

 the close of his paper, Mr. Oberholser 

 coroborated the statement, that the 

 eggs of a Hermit Thrush sometimes 

 suddenly dissapeared. He had watched 

 the nest and eggs at a distance to see if 

 the parent would return, and failing to 

 do so, he had again looked into the 

 nest, finding it empty. Evidently a 

 mystery. The only plausable reason 

 which could be advanced was that a 

 snake had eaten them, the nest being 

 on the ground, and consequently of 

 easy access. 



The renowned, venerable Dr. Elliott 

 Coues, in his original entertaining man- 

 ner, gave an intensely interesting talk 

 upon Audubon. He began by saying 

 that "in 1826 there appeared in Eng- 

 land an obscure man of fine form, strik- 

 ing personality, and engaging manner. 



