Mak. 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



45 



beous-ash without spots or streaks of any other 

 color. In present specimen first and second 

 secondaries decidedly plumljeous-ash, with a 

 lonnitudinal strii^e of rufous in medial line of 

 outer web. 



Warm weather Collecting. 



Ijike many other naturalists 1 have often had 

 pretty "loutl" specimens to handle during the 

 summer months and I have come to the con- 

 clusion that it is by far the safest jdan to make 

 up "field skins" at noon time whenever that 

 is possible. Here in the south a bird shot on a 

 summer morning is pretty sure to get over-ripe 

 if kept over night, unless ice can be bad. I 

 have met with some success in keeping speci- 

 mens by placing them under a tin pan on which 

 water was allowed to drip. If there are no 

 blow Mies about this will answer pretty well. 

 But we have a blow fiy that operates at night, 

 and is very destructive. The best i)lan is to 

 keep the specimens closely wrapi>e<l in the 

 collecting cones. 



Ants are another great source of annoyance. 

 I remember ijlacing my bag iii)on a stump one 

 day, while I had my dinner. In less than an 

 hour the entire contents were ruined by ants. 

 In some parts of Florida they are so active and 

 plentiful that I have had the eyes eaten out of 

 a specimen that I shot, and had to search for 

 quite a while on the ground. And in such 

 situations it is impossible to tiap small animals. 

 Unless you get to them before they have fairly 

 done kicking only a mutilated carcass falls to 

 your shire. 



A large species of cockroach .sometimes nib- 

 bles the skins while drying. The remedy is to 

 keep a lamp burning brightly by tliem all 

 night. 



I remember once having some fresh speci- 

 mens iirotected in this way l>y au open window. 

 During the evening I caught sight of a bird 

 flitting close up to the light, and thinking it 

 was an owl after my birds I laid for the mar- 

 auder and blew a fine C'huck-wiirs-widow to 

 pieces with a heavy charge of No. 8. How old 

 we get. My trigger finger is too stilf for that 

 sort of shooting nowadays. 



II'((/;c;- Ilijxie. 



Fro<;nn)re, S. C. 



Col. N. S. Goss. 



We have just received notice that Col. N. S. 

 Goss, State Ornithologist of Kansas, died of 



heart disease, at Neosho, Kansas, on Tuesday, 

 March 10. This loss to the State of Kansas Is 

 irreparable.- Such men are only found once in 

 a generation. Competent, ambitious and wil- 

 ling, he combined the qualities of the trained 

 field collector and the cabinet student. He 

 had travelled over a good portion of North 

 America in bis endeavor to become acquainted 

 with the avi-fauna, and bis contributions to 

 that science were numerous, the chef cTKUvre 

 being his work on the " Birds of Kansas," 

 which was received from bim on the very day 

 of his death, and which is now on our table 

 awaiting review. How little did we think, 

 when we read his name inscribed thereon, that 

 it was the last time, after years of correspond- 

 ence, that we should see it. Our business con- 

 nections have extended over a term of years, 

 and we have found him invariably courteous, 

 prompt and honorable. He was a square man, 

 what better epitaph can a man have? 



New Publications. 



" Will Wildwood," well known to the sport- 

 ing fraternity, will shortly issue a .Sportsman' s 

 Directory, containing lists of dealers in sport- 

 ing supplies, dog breeders, associations, jour- 

 nals, books, etc. Every sporting man is re- 

 quested to send him information, which should 

 be addressed to "Will Wildwood," 192 Mason 

 street, Milwaukee, Wis. This scheme is worth 

 patronage. 



Birds of Minnesota. 



Would like to add Buffle-head Duck {Clan- 

 f/ula albeola) to the list of birds of this state, 

 by Geo. fi. Cantwell. As the birds are very 

 common here in early spring and late fall, it 

 must be an omission on Mr. CantwelVs part, as 

 I- am sure ho must be aware that they occur. 



Minneapolis, Minn. W'H de la liarre. 



Mr. Paul B. Haskell writes, The American 

 Osprey has suspended publication for a time. 

 He hopes to continue it in the future. As we 

 have on many occasions stated, the publication 

 of ornithological papers is a hard road to 

 travel. One great fault to be found with Am- 

 erican ornithologists is that they are too in- 

 different to the support of publications that 

 help to diffuse the very knowledge they are 

 after. 



