THE OSPREY. 



69 



The next annual meeting- will be held at Lan- 

 sing, Michig-an. 



The first article at the evening- session was 

 presented b3' Mr. Percy Selous of Greenville, 

 and was read b3' Mr. Miilliken, in the author's 

 absence. Mr. Selous entered a plea for mercy 

 toward the English Sparrow, and his article 

 led to a leng-thj- discussion of the subject. The 

 final verdict was that as far as the driving away 

 of our birds is concerned, the bird is a nui- 

 sance. 



Mr. T. L. Hankinson, Ag-ricultural College, 

 presented an article entitled, "The Progress of 

 Ornithology' in Michigan." He began with the 

 list of Lager (1839), and carried the subject up 

 to the list of Cook (1893), and the organization 

 of the Club, dwelling in full on the late Hon. 

 D. D. Hughes and Chas. W. Tunn. 



Mr. L. W. Watkins, of Manchester, presented 

 an article on "'Bird Migration," which led to 

 considerable discussion. 



Mr. W. E. Mulliken, Grand Rapids, read a 

 paper entitled"The Limticolcr oi Ottowa County, 

 Michig-an." He enumerated twelve species 

 and gave the results of his observations on 

 them in Ottowa County. The article was illus- 

 trated by a collection of birds. 



The program was concluded b3' an article by 

 Mr. Cole, of Grand Rapids, entiled, "The His- 

 tory of Baird's Sandpiper, Tringa bairdii, 

 (Coues) in Michigan." Some ten specimens 

 are now known to have been taken in Michi- 

 gan. 



Mr. Watkins exhibited his specimen of Cory's 

 Least Bittern, the onU' one taken in the state 

 so far. 



The meeting-s were of great interest and each 

 member present declared his intentions of 

 y)eing present at the next meeting. 



Leon J. Cole, Sec'y. 



Correspondence. 



The Chicago Academy of Sciences, 



The Ornithological Section of the Chicago 

 Academy of Sciences, which was organized 

 November 6th, 1895, with a membership of 

 eight, is now in a very prosperous condition. 

 Our membership roll now numbers eig-hteen, 

 and the meeting'-s which are held on the first 

 Wednesday of each month are well attended bj' 

 members and their friends. 



The meetings are held in the Lecture Hall of 

 the Academy's Museum in Lincoln Park or in 

 the office of J. G. Parker & Co.. 100 Washington 

 Street. 



The last meeting was held Wednesday even- 

 ing, December 2nd, at 8 p. m. in the office of J. 

 G. Parker & Co., with the vice chairman, Mr. 

 J. G Parker, Jr., in the chair 



The paper of the evening was read by Mr. F. 

 M. Woodruff, entitled, " A Collecting Trip to 

 Cape Cod, Mass." The talk was illustrated by 

 specimens and photographs taken on the trip. 



Editor The Osprey: 



I was much interested in Mr. Chas. K. 

 Worthen's article in the October Ospkev, en- 

 titled " Albinism, Melanism and Hybridism." 

 I notice that all the cases of melanism he re- 

 ports are Raptorcs, while only one of the al- 

 binos, the Bald Eagle, is of that order. Is me- 

 lanism more prevalent among the birds of prey 

 than among other birds? He g'-ives several al- 

 binos, or partial albino, ducks, but it was in 

 this family that I had brought to my notice, 

 this spring, a striking case of melanism which 

 may prove of interest to the readers of The 

 Ospkev 



While Mr. W. E. Mulliken and I were collect- 

 ing at Black Lake, Ottawa County, on April 

 25th. we shot a male Lesser Scaup Duck which 

 is strongly colored on the breast and belU' with 

 light rufous, especially bright where it borders 

 the black on the breast and sides. The natural 

 white of these parts shows through in places 

 giving a sort of mottled appearance. It seems 

 that the feathers are only tipped with rufons. 

 Nor is this color by any means confined to the 

 parts above mentioned: the tail is the same 

 color, and it is also evident on the tips of the 

 secondaries, on the back, in a sort of ring 

 around the neck, and even on the head. 



Four American Scaup Ducks, which we shot 

 at the same time, showed no trace of this color- 

 ation, and I have never known of its being 

 found in one of that species. 



Mr. L. Whitney Watkins says he has seen 

 Lesser Scaup with just a dash of rusty tipped 

 feathers on breast', and T. L. Hankinson has a 

 specimen taken at Hill dale, Mich., which is 

 also slightly marked, but I have never seen 

 another nearly so heavily marked as the one 

 described. Very truly yours, 



Leon J. Cole. 



Grand Rapids, Mich , Dec 9, '96. 



An invitation has Ijeen received to attend 

 the Cooper Club's anntial assembly at San 

 Jose, California, Jan. 9th. The invitation card 

 is elaborately gotten up; it includes four 

 pages, giving portraits of the officers for '96, 

 and programme of the meeting. 



Editor The Osprey: 



The December Osprey received and enjoyed 

 as usual. I see our California editor is wonder- 

 ing where the Robins and Varied Thrushes are. 

 A few of the Thrushes have skipped Alameda 

 and located at the Park and Presidio in San 

 Francisco. The Robins are thronging by hun- 

 dreds all over the hills around Sansahto and 

 Tamalpias. I saw several bunches of Robins 

 in the mark-^t the other day, and effectually 

 scared the Italian. who had them, by threatening 

 to inform on him for violation of game laws, 

 Robins being "forbidden fruit." 



Mr. Silloway's experience with the Swallows 

 reminds me of a similar one of mine with a col- 

 of Tree and Violet Green vSwallows this sum- 

 mer. There was an old reservoir on the Stain 

 slaus River, and it formed a pond half a mile 

 long and 400 yards wide, at an average depth 

 of four feet, and was studded with old tree 

 stumps full of holes and nests. We took sev- 

 eral sets while there and every time a feather 

 dropped a Swallow swooped for it, and made off 

 with a cloud of others following, chatting and 

 fighting to get the feather. 



Henry B. Kaeding. 



San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 12, 1896. 



