176 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. 11 



Goss' History of the Birds of Kansas. 



In a volume of 700 octavo pages the late 

 Colonel N. S. (Joss of Topeka, Kansas, lias 

 chronicled his observations on the av! fauna 

 of this country. 



He has departed from the regular beaten 

 track of manual writers, and, except in his 

 descriptions, has confined his text to a great 

 extent to reports of his own individual obser- 

 vations, in the collection of which he has 

 evidently travelled over the greater jiart of 

 accessible North America. 



That he was a close observer goes without 

 saying, and that he was an indefatigable 

 worker is evident from the fact that he repre- 

 sents oii!) birds, all mounted by his own hand, 

 in the pliotogravure plates which illustrate 

 the book. 



It is difficult to make any comparison on the 

 character of these plates, as it is almost an 

 unheard-of idea to use this method of illus- 

 tration for technical books. 



The work done in this directicui has not 

 given universal satisfaction, since the various 

 shades of color, so important in the identifica- 

 tion of a bird, are not brought out by the 

 camera, even by the ortho-chromatic plates, 

 and for this reason process cuts, except 

 from pen and ink drawings, have not been 

 favorites with ornithological authors. Again, 

 the artist, especially if he be the writer, will 

 oftentimes unconsciously emphasize some im- 

 portant point without derogation to truth of 

 detail, which is of course impossible with the 

 )>li()togravure. 



The letter-press is good as can be desired, ] 

 and teems with interesting information on 

 the habits of the birds treated. The book is 

 Issued from the pi-ess of Geo. W. Crane iS: Co. t 



An EA<ii,E WiTir a Glass Eve. — A large 

 American Eagle flew on the ship William 

 .Starbuck, on Sept. 10th, in tlie Gulf Stream 

 and was picked up in an exhausted 

 condition The bird had a glass eye, with the 

 unintelligible initials of the supposed owner's 

 name in it. The bird's craw was entirely 

 empty, and it is supposed to have been 

 carried to sea by the force of the wind, and 

 was unable to reach the shore. — [Wade. 

 (Presumably one of Kurst's eyes, as all mcu of 

 sense use that make. ) 



Proceedings of the Delaware Valley 

 Ornithological Club of Phila- 

 delphia. 



Meeting Octol)er (ith. Mr. Keed read a 

 paper on a nesting trip to the swamps of 

 Southern New .Jersey, made early in June. 

 Hooded Warblers were more common tliau 

 tliey were in May, when a former trip to tliis 

 locality was taken, and diligent search re- 

 sulted in the discovery of a nest with eggs. 

 This nest was placed in a, holly bush, a few 

 feet from the groinid, and was very deli- 

 cately constructed of thin strips of bark and 

 other vegetable fibres. Prairie Warblers were 

 found breeding in similar situations, though 

 their eggs were nearly ready to hatcli. A 

 very handsome nest of the Catbird was found 

 placed in a low bush in the midstof a great tuft 

 of the green beard moss, of which the Parula 

 Wai'bler usually constructs its nest. Whip- 

 poor-wills were very common, and were un- 

 doubtedly breeding in the deeper portions of 

 the swamps. 



A beautiful collection of nests of Penn- 

 sylvania and New .Jersey birds, which had 

 been collected by members of the club for the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, was on exhibi- 

 tion at the meeting. 



JUeeting, October 20th. Mr. Morris lead a 

 paper on the summer birds of the Virginia 

 Coast, describing in detail a trip made by him 

 to Cape Charles during August of the present 

 year. Laughing Gulls were found breeding in 

 abundance and numbers of their grotcsipie 

 young were to be .seen scampering over the 

 sand or crouching low in the hollows which 

 constitute their nests, in the endeavor to con- 

 ceal themselves. Among the other birds 

 that breed along the shore were mentioned 

 the Common and Least Terns and Black 

 Skimmer, the latter being especially promi- 

 nent with its peculiarly shaped hill and narrow 

 wings. 



Many migiants from the ni>rth had ali-c;i(ly 

 arrived, including HiulsoniaM Curlew, Least 

 and Semipalmated Sandpiper.s and other com- 

 mon shore birds, .\moug the rarer species 

 noted were Oyster Catidiers and lioyal Terns, 

 a pair of each having been seen. 



Mr. DeHaveii exhihited an interesting alliino 

 specimen of the Sharp-tailed Kinch, which hi' 

 bad shot at Atlantic City. 



N'ow is tlie time to suhscrilic to the (). A ( >. 



