th:e ospreY. 



1^3 



Letters. 



NOTKS ON A COIXKCTING TkIP IN NOKTHWKST 



Nebraska. 



IviNCOi.N, Nkb., June 30, 1<^)()0. 

 EnrroR ov thk Osprky: 



Two other Nebraska Oriiitholog-ists, J. C. Cran- 

 ford and Merritt Carey, and myself spent the 

 latter part of last May in Northwest Nebraska 

 on a collectinj>- trip for the State University. 

 A number of interesting- notes were secured. 

 Two new birds were added to the state list, the 

 Western Warbling and Plumbeous Vireos. 



Two nests of Townsend's Solitaire were found. 

 Both were found near the heads of canyons. The 

 first was up the side of the canyon, about ten feet 

 from the bed, and was in a cavity in the base of 

 a pine tree, caused by the decay and burning. 

 The male bird was first observed and was shot, 

 then the female was seen close by in a pine tree: 

 while the shells were being- changed in the gun 

 she disappeared. While looking- for her I passed 

 above the tree that the nest was in, and my foot 

 displaced a stone that rolled past the tree, and 

 out flew the bird. The nest, which was built of 

 grass and pine needles loosely put together and 

 held in shape by the hole it was placed in, only 

 contained four badly incubated eggs. 



The other nest found by J. C. Cranford was in 

 another canyon on the side, above six feet from 

 the bed under a small ledge of dirt in a shallow 

 hole. The nest was more substantially built, 

 but contained no eg"gs. A bull-snake that was 

 killed near the nest, however, had all four eggs 

 in him. 



Lewis's Woodpeckers were found nesting-, but 

 no eggs were secured. One hole was in the top 

 of a dead pine tree. Lower down in the tree 

 was a Flicker's hole; still further down a 

 Sparrow Hawk had its nest. 



Harris' Woodpeckers were more abundant: 

 two nests were found, but with very small sets, 

 one with one addled, and two very badU' incu- 

 bated eggs; the other with four very badly in- 

 cubated eggs. 



White-throated Rock Swifts were found nest- 

 ing behind ledges and in cracks in the most in- 

 accessible clifts. 



On the same cliff with the latter a Kriders 

 Hawk had its nest in a narrow ledge about one 

 hundred feet from the house. 



Atidubon's Warblers were nesting, but we were 

 too earlv for sets. J. S. Hunter. 



Cassin on Baikd's First Paper. 



Philadelphia, July 3, 1900. 

 Editors of the: Osprey: 



I have recently, through the courtesy of Miss 

 Lucy H. Baird, had the pleasure of looking over 

 the early correspondence of her father, Prof. 

 Spencer F. Baird. Among the many interest- 

 ing manuscripts contained in this collection is a 

 letter from John Cassin of July 5, 1843, which, 

 so far as date is concerned, is peculiarlj' sea- 

 sonable. I send it in time for the July Osprey. 



Baird had just submitted his first contribution 

 to Cassin for publication in the Proceedings of 

 the Philadelphia Academy, the paper compris- 

 ing descriptions of the Least and Yellow-bellied 

 Flycatchers. Cassin was eager to present it to 

 the Academy as a necessary preliminarj' to pub- 

 lication, but owing to the fact that there was 

 no quorum present, he was forced to hold it over. 

 His apology to Baird is characteristic: 



"Dear Baird: 



"Dishedl Last evening being the 4th of July 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 

 phia did not muster a quorum, the honorable 

 membei-s being as it would appear patriotic as 

 well as scientific, were probably helping to cele- 

 brate the anniversary of the nation's birthday 

 in a manner seeming to them right and proper, 

 which was pretty enough in them, and to which 

 course I have not the slightest objection except- 

 ing that I had not the pleasure of reading to 

 them your paper." 



Baird's paper was only delayed a week, how- 

 ever. The next Tuesday it was presented, it 

 was ordered to be printed July 25th, and after- 

 wards was published in the Proceedings (p. 283- 

 285) under the title "Descriptions of two species, 

 supposed to be new, of the genus Tyrannula 

 Swainson, found in Cumberland Count)', Penn- 

 sj'lvania. By William M. & Spencer F. Baird, 

 of Carlisle, Pa." 



This was the first paper of the great ornitho- 

 gist. He was then 20 years old. William M. 

 was his brother, 6 years older than himself, who 

 likewise was early devoted to ornithology, but 

 diverted by business interests from pursuing it 

 much further. 



The two species still stand as Etnpidonax 

 flavivcntris and E. iiiiiiiiiiiis. 



WiTMER Stone. 



Notes. 



Protection and Importation of Birds un- 

 der act of Congress, approved Ma}', 25, 1900, is 

 the title of circular No. 29 just published b}' the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. It contains 

 the regulations for carrying out the provisions 

 of the "Lacey Act" for the preservation, distri- 

 bution, introduction and restoration of game 

 and other birds under the Department. 



An International Agreement for the Pro- 

 tection OF Game Animals has been attempt- 

 ed. "Representatives of the European powers 



having territorial possessions in South Africa 

 — Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Belgium, 

 France, and Italy — have just held in London 

 a conference, the interesting, if not particularly 

 important object of which was to devise means 

 for protecting- the "big game" of the Dark Con- 

 tinent from the speedy extermination threaten- 

 ing- it. The delegates included diplomats, ex- 

 plorers, naturalists, and sportsmen of note, and 

 they found no difficulty in arriving at an agree- 

 ment as to what ought to be done, but it was a 

 difficult matter when it came to arranging- for 



