60 



THE OSPREY. 



speedily secured althoiii^h badly mutilated. It 

 has been placed in the Charles H. Smith collec- 

 tion in the Roger Williams Park Museum. There 

 are a few records for the other New England 

 states; but this is the first for Rhode Island, 

 the bird being- a rare strangfer from the south. 

 H. S. Hathaway, 

 South Auburn. R. I. 



T H 1 K I ) 



Intkknaiioxal Okxithoiaxucai. 

 Congress. 



We have received from the United States 

 Commission to the Paris Exposition of 190(1, 

 (Commissioner General Ferdinand W. Peck.) a 

 prospectus of the Third International Ornitho- 

 logical Congress to be held at Paris in I'KIO. 

 The character and conditions of the congfress 

 are sufficiently explained in the letter and pro- 

 gram following-. — EuiTOKS. 



Editoks of the Ospkey: 



Ai,BAXV, N. Y.. Sep/. 18, 18W. 

 Dear Sirs. 



I enclose herewith a preliminary outline of the 

 International Cong-ress on Ornitholog-y held 

 under the auspices of the Universal Exposition 

 in Paris in 1900. Will you kindly give the mat- 

 ter such notice in your publication as in your 

 opinion will interest your readers? 



Should further information be received on this 

 Congress, or any other cong-ress allied thereto, 

 I shall take great pleasure in forwarding- j-ou the 

 earliest information. 



Very respectfully, 



Howard J. Rogers, 



Director Education and 



Social Economy. 



THE internatioxai, congresses of the expo- 

 sition of 1900. 



Third International Ornitholog-ical Congress. 



The Third International Ornithological Con- 

 gress will be held, under the patronage of the 

 Fi-ench Government, from the 26th to the 30th 

 of June, 1900. in the series of official congresses 

 of the Paris Universal Exposition. This session 

 has been organized under the direction of the 

 Permanent International Committee named at 

 the second congress, held at Budapest, in 1891. 

 Important questions relating to the classifica- 

 tion, habits, migrations, uses, breeding and ac- 

 climatation of birds form the matter of discus- 

 sion and reports of the coming cong-ress. The 

 organizing committee is making everv eft'ort to 

 insure the success of the congress bvbringing 

 together the chief naturalists of the world. The 

 honorary president is M. Milne Edwards, direc- 

 tor of the National Museum of Natural History; 

 the acting president M. Oustalet, the secretary 

 M. de Claybrooke, and the treasurer Baroii 

 d'Hamonviile, held corresponding posts in the 

 Permanent International Committee. In the 

 Comite de Patronage, comprising- foreign spe- 

 cialists adjoined to the French organizing 

 committee, there are the following American 

 members: Messrs. W. Brewster, Cambridge, 

 Mass., Elliott Coues, Smithsonian Institute, 

 W'ashington; D. G. Elliot, Field Columbian 

 Museum, Chicago; Clinton Hart Merriam, De- 



partment of Agriculture, Washington; Harrj' 

 C. Oberholser. Biological Survey, Department 

 of Agriculture, Washing-ton; Robert Ridgway, 

 Smithsonian Institute, Washington; R. W. 

 Shufeldt, Washington; and Mr. Stejneger, 

 Smithsonian Institute, Washington. 



There will be admitted as members of the 

 congress all delegates of French and foreign 

 governments, and those who pay the subscrip- 

 tion fee of 20 francs. Zoologiciil societies and 

 societies of acclimatation, aviculture, and for 

 the protection of animals, may be represented 

 bj' one or more delegates, the subscription being 

 due for each delegate. Each member will re- 

 ceive the printed proceedings of the congress, 

 and only members will have the right of taking 

 part in the sessions and visits which are being 

 prepared by the organizing committee. 



The work of the congress has been divided 

 among five sections, as follows: 



Sf;c. 1. Systematic ornithology — classifica- 

 tion; description of new genera and species; 

 nomenclature. 



Anatomy and embryogeny of birds. Paleon- 

 tology; classification, description of new genera 

 and species; ancient faunas, relation of extinct 

 to present species. 



Sec. 2. Geographical distribution of birds. 

 Present faunas. Species extinct in historic 

 times. Migration. Accidental changes of place. 

 Appearance of rare species in certain districts. 



Sec. 3. Biology, habits, diet, nesting, oology. 

 * Sec. 4. Economic ornithology — protection of 

 species useful to agriculture; destruction of 

 harmful species — hunting. Acclimatation. Avi- 

 culture. 



Sec. 5. Organization and working of the in- 

 ternational ornithological committee. Election 

 of new members. (This section is specialU* re- 

 served for members of th^-. permanent interna- 

 tional committee.) 



Papers on the subjects of the program -svhich 

 have been accepted by the committee will be 

 discussed in general session. Questions outside 

 the program maj' be submitted to the repective 

 sections. All papers must be in the hands of 

 the organizing committee, at least in a summary 

 form containing the conclusions reached, before 

 the 1st of May, 1900. Communications ma^- be 

 made in English, German, and Italian, as well 

 as French; but the publications of the congress 

 will be limited to the French language. Min- 

 utes of each meetings will be printed and 

 distributed at once. After the close of the 

 congress a volume of proceedings containing 

 the papers presented to the congress will be pub- 

 lished under the direction of the committee. 

 Correspondence relating to the ornithological 

 congress should be addressed to the secretary of 

 the organizing committee, M. Jean de Clay- 

 brooke, 3 rue de Sontay, Paris. 



On the Food of the Crow Blackbird. 



EiuTORS OF THE Osprf;y: 



Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 18, 1899. 

 During the month of September a ilock of 

 about 12,000 Crow Blackbirds made their head- 

 quarters in a small grove a short distance from 

 town. I had a curiosity to know^ what thej' were 

 living on at this time of the year, so I shot a 



