30 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 14-:N^o. 2 



Rumor says the organ of the Audubon Society has 

 become non est. We alius tot dat chile be sicklie. 



We have received three stereoscopic views taken 

 from a pair of buffalo, stuffed by Professor Dyche for 

 the Kansas State Iniversity in 1888. Placed on the 

 grounds when photographed the appearance is so life- 

 like and easy that we cannot detect the artificial. We 

 congratulate the Professor on the high stan<lar<l of his 

 work. 



A specimen of the Richardson Owl was found dead in 

 Peabody, Feb. 2. Geo. O. Welch. 



Kingfisher seen near Salem, Jan. .31. Geo. O. Welch. 



Blue Quail, probably from Texas, offered for sale in 

 Boston market, Feb. 7 ; not in fit condition for scien- 

 tific use, but in a stage immensely suitable for game 

 association dinners. 



Jack is Dead, Aged 11 Years, 7 Months. 

 A life well spent, without a sin. 

 Now rest in peace, a scientific skin. 



New Publications. 



IT. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of 

 Economic Ornithology. Bulletin No. 2, 8vo. 

 pp. 818. Repiirt on Bird Migration by Prof. W. W. 

 (;ooke, assisted by Mr. Otto Widmann and Prof. 

 D. E. Lantz. RevLsed by Dr. C Hart Merriam. 

 Part first, introducing witli a history of the 

 first efforts, the author proceeds to theoreti- 

 cally consider migration. In brief, his idea is, 

 that migration at first was very limited and an 

 intelligent movement, which through repetition 

 became habitual, and was transmitted from 

 parent to offspring, till it has become, as we see 

 it now, a governing impulse of bird life. In 

 considering the cause, he gives "a love of 

 home and familiar scenes of the previous sum- 

 mer as an impulse for a northward movement, 

 in the sleet and cold of the spring, and a scarc- 

 ity of food in the approach of winter for the 

 return south."' To this Dr. Merriam takes ex- 

 ceptions and notes. "I cannot concur with 

 Prof. Cooke in the belief that love of the nest- 

 ing ground ... is foundation of the desire for 

 migration. In a lecture on bird migration 

 which it was my privilege to deliver in the 

 V . S. National Museum, April 8, 188(i, I said, 

 ' some ornithologists of note have laid special 

 stress upon the strong home affection " which 

 prompts birds to leave the south and return to 

 their breeding grounds. To me this explana- 

 tion is forced and unnecessary. Birds desert 

 their winter houses because the food supply 

 fails, because the climatic conditions become 

 unsuited to their needs, because the approach 

 of the breeding season gives rise to physiolog- 

 ical restlessness; and because they inherit an 

 irresistible impulse to move at tliis particular 

 time of the year."" 



Next is considered the speed at which they 

 migrate, the relation of migration to baro- 

 metric pressure, and the temperature, etc. 



Part second, a systematic report of observa- 

 tions of the Mississippi Valley migration in 

 1884-85. 



Our readers will remember the interest taken 

 by the O. & O. in Professor Cooke's early la- 

 bors (Vol. viii, ix, x), at which time we were 

 impressed with its importance. We are in- 

 debted to Dr. Merriam for the copy. 



A New Magazink. — '■'Greeley,'" a journal of 

 natural science, monthly, is^LoO per annum, 

 published by Jos. M. Wade, Boston. The first 

 number printed on tinted paper, and bearing a 

 startling resemblance to the O. & O. in its 

 general make-up, has just reached us. It con- 

 tains sixteen pages brim full of interesting 

 mattei*. Just as we expected the first article 

 that catches our eye is an ornithological article 

 on protection. Wade's name is a guarantee 

 that it will be a first-class publication, and we 

 wish it success. Jos. M. Wade for a number 

 of years published the Ornithologist and Oolo- 

 gist. 



The PonUry Worbl, nnmthly, published by 

 H. H. Stoddard, Hartford, (."(mn., reaches us 

 regularly. The January number, chromo edi- 

 tion, has a fine lithograph of the Peacombed 

 Barred Plymouth Rocks, and is well illustrated 

 throughout. The magazine has reached its 

 18th volume, and any of our readers who see it 

 will agree with vis that it merits endorsement. 

 8ubscripti<m, $1.2.") per year; chromo edition 

 §2.00. 



Correspondence. 



Editor of O. <t O. : 



In the December, 1888, O. & O., Mr. John C. 

 Cahoon takes a decided stand against the 

 articles written by Mr. Benj. F. Hess and Mr. 

 C. C. Maxfield, eoncerning the food of the Great 

 Northern Shrike. I fail to see any evidence 

 that the shrikes do not feed, principally, on 

 English Sparrows in winter in tiiis country, 

 because Mr. Cahoon has (near Boston) "shot 

 Shrikes in the most severe winters, and found 

 their stomachs filled with insects, etc.," or be- 

 cause the stomach of the one killed Oct. 17th, 

 "contained a large, white worm and part of a 

 snow-bird." Winter does not begin till Dec- 

 ember 1st. 



In our ordinary winters, here, the snow lies, 

 on an average, two feet deep. Last winter, for 



