112 



THE OSPREY. 



NOTES FKOM MINNESOTA. 



Snowilakes have been abundant here 

 the past month; coming- into the heart of 

 the city and feeding- at the base-ball park, 

 -which is being g-raded by a force of men 

 who leave bread crumbs around for the 

 birds. The first Prairie Horned Lark 

 was noted on the 2nd inst., and quite a 

 few have arrived at this date. 



Walton I. Mitchell. 



St. Paul, Minn., March 7, 1897. 



Iftecent literature. 



Note and Comment. 



Dr J. C. Merrill. U. S. A., has left Fort 

 Sherman, Idaho, to reside in Washing-ton, D. C 

 Mr. Win. E. Praeger. of Keokuk, la., leaves 

 for an European sojourn about the first of May. 

 Mr. Otto Widman, of Old Orchard. Mo , spent 

 the three weeks preceding- March 20 in Louisi- 

 ana. 



A small flock of Bluebirds was noted on 

 March 11 at Evanston, III., by Mr. Frederic W. 

 John.son. 



A program wasg^iven in honor of the memory 

 of Maj. Bendire at the reg^ular meeting of the 

 Southern Division of the Cooper Club held at 

 Los Angeles, March 27. 



Mr E. F. Bigelow.e ditor of The Observer, is 

 now devoting part of his titne to lecture work. 

 One of his course lectures is illustrated by 

 many fine bird pictures. 



Mr. G F. Dippie writes that Mr. Oliver Span- 

 ner, of Toronto, Can., has just discovered an- 

 other specimen of the rare Cory's Least Bit- 

 tern. It was found in an amateur collection of 

 that city. 



The establishment of Mr. Chas. K. Reed, at 

 Worcester, Mass., was recentl.v destroyed by 

 fire, consuming a greater part of his stock. He 

 has now secured a fine new building, in which 

 his business will not be cramped for room as it 

 has previously been. 



In Bulletin No. 1. dated March 15, 1897, the 

 Oologists' Association publishes its constitution, 

 list of members, and announcements relating 

 to their work for 1897. The order Raptorcs will 

 be the subject for special study during the fol- 

 lowing 3'ear. 



The marriage of Prof. Henry A. Ward. Pres- 

 ident of Ward's Natural Science Establishment 

 of Rochester. N. Y., to Mis. Lydia Avery 

 Coonley, of Chicago, was celebrated March 18 

 in Chicago with inuch simplicity and a marked 

 absence of disjjlay, notwithstanding the high 

 position both parties hold in public favor. 



We are pleased to hear from Mr. H. Kirke 

 Swann that The Ornitholof^ist, the British 

 monthly of ornithology, will resume publica- 

 tion in April. Mr. Swann will edit the maga- 

 zine as before, but its publishing department 

 will be under a new management. The new 

 series will be of a changed form and illustrated. 

 Undoubtedly this will add popularity to the 

 matrazine. 



Birds of the Gatapagos Archipelago. By Rob- 

 ert Ridgway, Curator of the Department of 

 Birds. From the Proceedings of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, Vol XIX, pp 459-670. (With 

 Plates LVI-LVII.) [No. 1116 J Washington: 

 Government Printing Office, 1896. 



This work embodies practically' all that is 

 known of the avi-fauna of the Galapagos Archi- 

 pelago. But as the islands are not as 3'et thor- 

 oughly explored the publication is not, of 

 course, exhaustive. 



The Galapagos Archipelago is an interesting- 

 group of volcanic islands which lie on the equa- 

 tor 200 miles west of the South American coast. 

 Credit is placed on two theories as to their ori- 

 gin: first and most widely agreed, that they 

 were formed by volcanic upheaval; and second, 

 that they are what remains of a submerged 

 single island, which itself, in an earlier time, 

 was united to the continent, probably with 

 Central America and West Indies. 



The number of species ascertained to occur 

 on the islands is 105, — the result of observations 

 of Darwin (1835), Neboux (1836-1839). Kinberg 



(1852), Kellett and Wood , Habel (1868), 



Cookson (1875), Markham (1880), Jones (1884), 

 "Albatro.ss" (1888). Town.send (1891), Baur and 

 Adams (1891). A box of specimens collected by 

 Baur and Adams was unfortunately lost in 

 transit. It contained, among- others, 40 species 

 from an almost unexplored portion of the 

 group, and, therefore, very likely contained 

 new species, — at least to the islands and per- 

 haps to science. 



Numerous keys to genera and species are dis- 

 persed throughout the work An outline map 

 of the islands is used frequently to show the 

 ascertained range of genera. The two plates 

 give the specific variations in form of the bill in 

 Nesoniimus, Cainarhvuehus, and (ieospiza. The 

 work is concluded with a bibliograph3' pertain- 

 ing to the avi-fauna of the Archipelago. 



The Sfory of the Birds. By James Newton 

 Baskett. M. A., Associate Member of the Amer- 

 ican Ornithologists' Union. New York: D. 

 Appleton lit Co., 1897. Cloth 65 cents. 



Our subscribers who have read Mr. Baskett's 

 contributions to Thk Osi'KEV know that his 

 writings are of the kind that we enjoy reading. 

 The aim of this little work of Mr. Baskett's is 

 to present in a rather unusual yet popular way 

 •'The Story of the Birds." with the more strik- 

 ing scientific features of their probable devel- 

 opment. In interesting rather than instruct- 

 ing: in g-uiding- the observation of the inexperi- 

 enced into proper channels: in suggesting- 

 slightly to the student what to look for among 

 the birds, and what to do with a fact when 

 found, is its proper mission. 



The book contains many beautiful illustra- 

 tions, consisting of full page plates and numer- 

 ous half-tones and pen-drawings. A number 

 of the plates are credited to Mr. Frank M. 

 Chapman. 



The publisher's price of this work is remark- 

 ably low. The book is the first of the "Apple- 

 ton's Home Reading- Books Series," which will 

 contain works on various topics. 



