THE 08PREY. 



57 



THI: OSPkl^Y. 



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 C. Oberholser of Washington, and Witmer Stoueol I'hila- 

 delj>hia. 



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Comments. 



TiiK sk\J';n'jki;.ntm co.nc.kkss oi^' thj; a.mkkican 



(.(KNITIKM.OCISTS' INKJ.N. 



If there ever existed any doubt of the exjK'di- 

 eiicy of holding' the nieetjiig' of the Aniericaii 

 Oriiitholof.fists' I'liiori in l^hiladelphia, that 

 doubt has been once for all most eifectually dis- 

 pelled. For not only was the recent session an 

 unqualified success, but in numbers it far sur- 

 passed any previous one, as the total of seventy- 

 four members present, compared with the lar^fest 

 attendance hitherto recorded that of sixty at 

 Washin^^ton in 18W amply attests. Kminently 

 fitting: it seems t<i be, that in this city of Phila- 

 delphia, the city for ,so lon^c a time universally 

 recog'nized as f<;remost in the annals of Ameri- 

 can ornitholog'y, and now so rich in historic 

 associations, there should assemble in congress 

 the successors of those who made American 

 ornitholog^y famous in the early years of the 

 century now drawing^ to a close. 



Convening' on Monday, the 13th of November^ 

 the Union, after disposing' of the usual routine 

 business, proceeded on the following- day to the 

 consideration of scientific papers, assembling- 

 for this purpose in the Lecture Hall of the Phil- 

 adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Mr. 

 Witmer Stone, as chairman of the Committee on 

 Bird Protection, in an elaborate report presented 

 very encouraging- news of the increased interest 



ill bird^ jfiid 1 heir jjreserval ion. as well as of the 

 gratifying- g-rowth <jf the Audubon Society move- 

 ment. First iijioii the reg^iilar program came Mr. 

 IVaiik M. Chapman, who spoke "On the Plum- 

 ages of C'ertaiii JJoreal JJirds". He -VN'as followed 

 by Mr. Witiiier St<Jiie, who treated "The Sum- 

 mer Molting^ I'lumageof Fider Ducks", bringing- 

 out some very interesting- facts in reg-ard to 

 hitherto imperfectly understood chang-es. This 

 paper was very fully di.scussed \)y various iiieiii- 

 bers. Dr. J. Dwight, Jr. then presented an ex- 

 ceedingly important paper on "The Sequence of 

 Plumages aiul Molts in Certain Families of 

 N(jrth American JJirds", dwelling- jjarticularly 

 ujj<;n the evi<leiices of so-called c<)l(;r change in 

 feathers withtnit molt. In "The Ranges of 

 Hylociclila fusccsci'us and 1 1 yhx it Itia f. salicicola^'' 

 Mr. Keg-inald Heber H<nve, Jr. stated that the 

 g-e<jg-raphic distribution u\ the latter should be 

 extended to include Newfoundland. "Three 

 Years' Migraticni Data on City Hall Tower. Phil- 

 adeljjhia", was the title of an interesting- pajjer 

 liy Mr. Wm. L. Ikiily, wh(^ told of the birds killed 

 by striking this tower, the top of which is at 

 iiig-ht illiiiiiiiiated by a circle of brilliant electric 

 lig-hts. The other jjajier of the day was by Mr. 

 F. C. Kirkwood, "(;n the (Occurrence of the 

 Fg-yptian Goosa {Chenalopex aegypliaca) in North 

 America". The evening- was devoted to an 

 illustrated lecture on "The Bird Kocks of the 

 (iulf of St. Lawrence", delivered by Mr. Frank 

 M. Chapman before an enthusiastic audience 

 c<.»inpo.sed of members of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences and of the Union. 



On Wednesday morning, November l.S, Mr. 

 Keubeii M. Strong-, in "A Quantitative Study of 

 Variation in the Smaller American Shrikes", 

 g-ave an elaborate expositi'ni of his methods in 

 the determination of variation by stati.stical 

 analysis. Mr. Vernon IJailey de.scribed "An 

 Oreg-on Fish Hawk Colony"; and Mr. F. M. 

 Chaj^man made some "Further Keinarks on the 

 Kelaticjiiships of the (irackles of the subg^enus 

 Quisralus'\ "A Peculiar Sparrow Hawk", by 

 Mr. William Palmer, and "The Requirements 

 of a Faunal List", by Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, 

 were followed by an "Exhibition of a Series of 

 Field Sketches Made from Absolutely Fresh 

 Birds, Showing- the True Life Colors of the S(ift 

 Parts, Mostly in the Breeding- Season", by Mr. 

 Louis A. Fuertes, demonstrating- the interesting- 

 fact that the.se parts change color very rapidly 

 after death, in .some species almost immediately, 

 and that, from ig^norance of this, many of our 

 current data are unreliable. 



Of more than common interest were "Audu- 



