54 



THE OSPREY. 



It is intended that nearly every school 

 in Southeastern Nebraska shall establish 

 a "Bird Day" next season. 



A Phoebe was seen here on the 31st of 

 October, rather late for this locality. 



A bill favoring" a better protection to 

 our song- and game birds will come up 

 before the Nebraska Legislature this 

 winter, and every person interested in the 

 preservation of our birds will be asked to 

 use their influence with leg^islators to se- 

 cure the passag-e of the bill, as it is ex- 

 pected that a great many sportsmen ( ? ) 

 will object to it. 



Prof. Elliott Returns, 

 Prof. D. G. Elliott, leader of the Field 

 Columbian Museum expedition to Africa, 

 and O. E. Akeley, its taxidermist, re- 

 turned November 21st on the St. Louis. 

 After stopping a few days at New York 

 Prof. Elliott will g-o to Chicag"o; and as 

 the specimens have not yet arrived Mr. 

 Akeley will stop awhile at his home in 

 Milwaukee. 



California department 



D0NA1.D A. Cohen, Editor, Alameda, Cal. 



All Ornithologists west of the Rocky Mountains will favor the 

 editor of this Department, as well as the publisher of The 

 OsPREV, by furnishing notes, news, or articles and illustrations 

 for publication. 



Cooper Club. 



THERE was no November meeting of 

 the Cooper Ornithological Club. Rev. 

 E. L. Hood expected it to meet at his 

 residence in Berkeley, but, as the Secretary 

 absented himself (on pressing- business), 

 for the first time since the Club's org-aniza- 

 tion (the first Secretary having- been suc- 

 cessively re-elected), and as no presiding- 

 officer put in an appearance the evening- 

 was g-iven to discussing ornitholog-y and 

 oology in g-eneral, by the few members 

 present. Mr. Moran, of Berkely, exhi- 

 bited the onh' ( two ) complete sets ever 

 taken of the White-throated Swift [ao'o- 

 naiipes melanoleiiciis). A set of five and 

 a set of three eg-gs, with incubation 

 hig-her in the latter, were taken from 

 the same nest, a crevice in a larg-e rock, 

 near the San Luis Obispo, by Mr. Moran. 

 Foreig-n marking's that could readily be 

 washed off g-ave the eg-g- a spotted rather 

 than a speckled appearance. In shape 



they were narrow-— eliptical, slig-htly nar- 

 row toward the "smaller end," the base 

 rather flat. They surpassed the eg-g-s of 

 the Cliff Swallow in size by a small ocu- 

 lar marsfin. 



A party of campers took a set(?) of 

 tvventy-four Wood Duck's eg-g-s from a 

 cavity in a large sycamore, about ten feet 

 over the Sacramento River. As the egg-s 

 were fresh they were added to the camp 

 bill-of-fare. It would take an enormously 

 keen appetite to cause many of us to eat 

 such fine eg-g-s. 



A nest and set of (Whistling-) Swan's 

 eg-g-s was taken two 3'ears ag-o in the 

 tules near Sacramento. If such is the 

 case this would make a breeding- record 

 for a bird supposed only to winter here. 



Indications are that there will be, com- 

 paratively speaking-, no Western Robins 

 present about Alameda this winter. I 

 have been afield every day this season 

 and have failed to hear or see one of these 

 winter residents, and inquiries from other 

 parties are — no robins. There may be a 

 few later on, but the "advance g-uard" be- 

 gins to strag-gle in by September. The 

 Varied Thrush, locally called the Horse- 

 shoe Robin, from the black semi-circle on 

 its breast, has not yet made its appear- 

 ance. 



Notwithstanding- the incessant slaug-h- 

 ter of California Clapper Rail since the 

 season opened October 15th, some fair 

 bag's have been made on the Alameda 

 marshes. At the close of the season last 

 February not a bird was supposed to have 

 been left alive. Fresh birds have come 

 in and have bred since then and others, a 

 few at a time, keep coming- in to make 

 use of the feeding- g-rounds of their de- 

 ceased relations. I have flushed five birds 

 from a small patch of "salt g-rass" just 

 above the flood tide, and was told by a 

 reliable party who was out on the marsh 

 with a friend that the latter shot no fewer 

 than eig-ht from one patch of "salt grass" 

 at flood tide, without getting out of the 

 boat. 



Mr. H. B. Kaeding', a well known or- 

 nithologist and oolog-ist, and the "Cali- 

 fornia Editor," made ajointbag'of twenty- 

 two quail (California Partridg'e ) one day 

 last week. The first ten birds, shot sing'ly, 

 were all young--of-the-year and, still more 



