THE OSPKEY. 



45 



White Bay New Zealand, for the purpose of pre- 

 curing a kind of lizard called "sphenodon," 

 which is regarded by scientists as a wonderful 

 curiosity, inasmuch as it is the only survivor of 

 an entire order of reptiles, all the other genera 

 and species having long since become extinct. 

 This lizard, which is known to the native Maoris 

 as the "Tuatera," is about a foot and a half 

 long. and. oddly enough, seems to have affinities 

 with the crocodile. Of course, all the kanga- 

 roos, wombats, and flightless birds come from 

 Australia, or New Zealand. A while ago the 

 American dealer above referred to made a spe- 

 cial trip to South America for the purpose of 

 obtaining guanaco skeletons and steamer ducks. 

 The guanaco is chiefly interesting, because, like 

 the llama, it is a representative of the camel 

 tribe on the continent. The steamer duck is 

 particularly odd. inasmuch as it flies when it is 

 young, but cannot do so after it has matured. 

 The adult bird beats the water with its wings as 

 it swims and this suggested tile name given to 

 the species at a period when all steamers were 

 side wheelers. It cannot rise in llight. lor the 

 reason that, as it gets older, its wings do not 

 develop in proportion to its increase in weight. 

 —Philadelphia Post. 



Relative Strength of Eagle. Cornelius 



K. G. Billings of Chicago is the millionaire 

 owner of the English yacht Surf. The Surf 

 was struck by a railroad float last Tuesday 

 night, and is now undergoing repairs in a South 

 Brooklyn shipyard. Just before this accident 

 Mr. Billings had been on a cruise up the Sound. 

 While on this trip the Surf's sailors captured .1 

 large bird that proved to be an American Eagle. 

 The sailors feared that their American skipper 

 would object to keeping the Eagle in captivity 

 and hid the bird in the hold until they returned 

 to this city. 



The bird was placed in the cellar of Henry 

 Meyer's grocery store at Twenty-sixth street 

 ami Fifth avenue. John Meyer ion of the gro- 

 ceryman. was detailed to look after the bird 

 until the English men sailed for home next week. 

 The boy fastened a chain to one of the birds 

 legs and chained it to the wall. A barber named 

 Angler has a shop near Meyer's store and owns 

 a fox terrier named Spot. Spot succeeded in 

 gaining an entrance to the cellar yesterday 

 morning; and in a few minutes the grocery- 

 man thought there was an explosion under his 

 place. The fox terrier and the Eagle had en- 

 gaged in battle and wine bottles, jams, pre- 

 serves and other dainties were scattered in all 

 directions. 



The dog was badly beaten, being almost 

 blinded by the Eagle's sharp daws, but another 

 dog came to his aid and the two resumed the 

 attack, which resulted in the Eagle's death. 

 Young Meyer arrived during the tight, but did 

 not take sides. When asked about the tigl 

 would only say in German: "Big Eagle bum 

 fighter."— The Sun, X. V. 



"Some Anim u.s Exterminated during the 

 Nineteenth Century" is the title of an article 

 by R. L. [Robert Lydekker] published in Nature 

 for January 10, 1901, 1 p. 252-254). Of birds, 

 those commented on are the Great Auk. the 

 Black Emu (Dromaeus ater), the Spectacled Cor- 

 morant (Phalacrocorax perspicillatus) of Bering 

 Sea, the Great White Water-hen (Notornis alius) 

 of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, the Tahiti 

 Kail (Prosobonia leucoptera), the White-winged 

 Sandpiper (Hypotaenidia pacified) of the same 

 islands, the New Zealand Crane (Coturnix 

 novaezealandiae), a beautiful Pigeon of the 

 island of Mauritius (Alectroenas nitidissima) 

 called Pigeon hollandais on account of the plu- 

 mage presenting the Dutch colors, the Kaka or 

 Philip Island Parrot (Nestor productus) and a 

 related Norfolk Island species (Nestor norfolcen- 

 -/.'. a Parraquet of the island of Rodriguez 

 ?«/), the Labrador Pied Duck 

 iptolaemus labradorius), the Crested Pied 

 Starling (Fregilupus varius) and the Black and 

 Gold Mamo of Hawaii (Drepanis pacified). 

 This list might be greatly added to and more 

 will enumerated in a future artilcle for the 

 ( >SPREY on Birds exterminated (luring the Nine- 

 teenth Century. 



We may here note that the Labrador Duck 

 was -till living as late as 1871 or ls72: in one of 

 those years I),-. George Bird Grinnell (Editor of 

 Forest and Stream! saw some in course of pre- 

 paration by a taxidermist at the residence of 

 the late Mr. George A. Boardman of Calais, 

 Maine. They iiad been recently bought in open 

 market in New York. 



Tin: Death 01 Charles C. Marble is noted 

 by the .ink. He was editor of our contemporary 

 magazine entitled "Birds" and a resident of 

 ago since 1893. He died in that city Sep- 

 tember 25th, of heart disease, at the age of 52 

 \ ears. 



Tm. Death oj Dr. John Anderson occurred 



at Buxton. England, in August last. 



Dr. Anderson was horn in Edinburgh, Scot- 

 land, in 1833, studied medicine, and received the 

 degree of M. I), from the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1861, was immediately afterwards ap- 

 pointed Professor of Natural Science in the 

 Free Church College of Edinburgh, resigned 

 the professorship in 1st, 4. and then went to 

 India. He had been appointed Superintendent 

 of the Indian Museum at Calcutta, and he re- 

 tained this position till lsx7. Meanwhile, he 

 conducted various scientific expeditions to dif- 

 ferent parts <>f India or neighboring lands, and 

 published valuable reports on the zoological and 

 anatomical result s. including ornithology. He 

 also contributed to scientific periodicals several 

 special articles on birds, especially Asiatic 

 species. His latest researches were prosecuted 

 mainly with reference to a work on "The Fauna 

 of Egypt". 



