THE OSPREY. 



123 



AN EARLY WHIP-POOR-WILL. 

 As early as March 2, of this year, a Whip-poor- 

 will was heard uttering its familiar notes in the 

 southern part of this county, (I'ranklin). It was 

 heard but once, in the middle of the afternoon of a 

 warm cloudy day. This early movement of this bird 

 will not seem so anomalous when we know the fact 

 that it came with the advance of a warm current of 

 air, for the following five or six days were uncom- 

 monly warm and accompanied by thunder-storms 

 and a summer temperature. — O. M. Meyncke, Brook- 

 Tii/<; hid. 



NOTE AND COMMENT 



Recent Literature. 



Dr. A. C. Murchison has lately removed his resi- 

 dence from Kewanee to Toulon, 111. 



Mr. Sidney S. Wilson, of St. Joseph, Mo., is spend- 

 ing a few months at Fort Bayard, New Mexico. 



We are pleased to note the number of press notices 

 in Eastern newspapers regarding Dr Coues' new 

 relations with The Osprey. 



A letter written in New York City from Mr. E. A. 

 Mcllhenny says that he has just spent two weeks in 

 Washington preparatory to his Point Barrow expedi- 

 tion. 



Mr. Joseph Grinnell, of Pasadena, Cal., returned 

 about the first of April from a ten day's trip to San 

 Clemente Island where he secured some nice eggs. 

 He will make another trip to the island this month. 



Mr. J. Maurice Hatch, of Escondido. Cal., has 

 taken a set of three eggs of the Western Red-tailed 

 Hawk, having the light-green ground color as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Benjamin Hoag in the Februar)- 

 Osprey 



The seventh lecture of a free course being given at 

 the Field Columbian Museum was delivered April 

 17 by Prof. D. G. Elliot, and concerned the 

 Museum's recent African expedition of which Prof. 

 Elliot was chief. 



Mr. Frank M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy 

 of Sciences, has just returned from a trip to Southern 

 Illinois, where he found some good collecting. He saw 

 what he feels quite sure was a pair of Duck Hawks 

 nesting 150 feet from the ground on the cliffs at 

 Grand Tower. 



MiClurc' s Magazine sends us the information that 

 Prof. S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, will write an account of his flying-ma- 

 chine — "the first one to maintain and move itself in 

 the air by energy generated in its own mechanism" — 

 in their number for June. 



We are becoming quite accustomed to surprises 

 from Mr. Chas. K. Worthen. The latest is a fine 

 egg of California Condor taken, with bird, this spring. 

 We cannot give further particulars this month. Mr. 

 Worthen has been able to leave his business long 

 enough, lately, to take a half dozen Little Yellow 

 Rails — the first he has met with for .several years. 



Messrs. J. P. Roberts, of Chicago, and W. J. Purcell, 

 of Washington, enjoyed a cruise through the Florida 

 Keys, during the latter part of March, to obtain 

 specimens of mostly birds and fishes, for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. A thrilling episode of the trip was 

 the capture of a monstrous sawfish measuring iS 

 feet in length. The harpooned fish towed their boat 

 some distance down the channel from Maduro Key 

 before it was finally dispatched. 



A Dictioiwj-y of Birds. By Alfred Newton, as- 

 sisted by Hans Gadow, with contributions from 

 Richard Lydekker, Charles S. Roy, etc., London; A. 

 and C. Black, [The MacMillan Company, 66 Fifth 

 Avenue, New York.] 



The "dictionary" has appeared in four parts, run- 

 ning i8g3-'g6, the last part having been issued in 

 November or December of i8g6. In this magazine 

 we can give only brief mention of this great work — 

 one characterized by authorities as the greatest and 

 best book about birds that has ever been written in 

 English or any other language. The last part furn 

 ishes, besides the last of the alphabet, a permanent title, 

 preface, indexes and the introduction. This intro- 

 duction, which is deemed the best part of the work, 

 is based on the long series of short articles on birds 

 furnished by Professor Newton to the ninth edition 

 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; it is a critical 

 review of ornithology and ornithologists within about 

 one hundred pages and the result is said to be more 

 than any writer, past or present, has attained 



.-/ Story of the Ba rat tones. By C. Barlow, ar- 

 ranged and published by H. R. Taylor, Alameda, 

 Cal., 1897. 36 pages. Price, 50 cents. 



We congratulate Messrs. C. Barlow and H. R. 

 Taylor on the handsome appearance and the good taste 

 expressed in the make-up of their little brochure: "The 

 Story of the Farollones. ' The "story" is more vivid- 

 ly told from an ornithological standpoint than ever 

 before, for we see the birds just as they are, as well 

 as the island, just as it appears — with its three kinds 

 of Cormorants on their rocky fastnesses, the thous- 

 ands of Murres in their great rookery, the Tufted 

 Puffins, the Auklets, the Gulls, Petrels, and even the 

 little Wrens. The story is also timely, inasmuch as 

 the whole subject of egging on the islands has lately 

 been made a matter of legislation to prevent the 

 wholesale robbery and consequent destruction of 

 these interesting bird resorts. We wish Mr. Taylor 

 equal future success with J'/ie iVidotogist. 



Tlie Aide for April is a most welcome spring 

 arrival. Among the usual valuable contents is the 

 colored plate and two articles by Dr. Arthur P. 

 Chadbourne and Frank M. Chapman, respectively, 

 on the color-change and moulting of the Bobolink. 

 Mr. A. W. Anthony names a new bird of Lower 

 California in honor of Mr. R. C. McGregor, of Palo 

 Alto, Cal.: this bird will henceforth be known as 

 McGregor's House Finch. 



How often we hear persons, on seeing a wild-bird 

 in captivity, earnestly remark: "Why don't you let 

 the poor little thing go. ' This, at first, does seem 

 the more humane action even though the bird had 

 grown from a nestling in the cage. But Olive Thorne 

 Miller does not think so: and we quite agree with her, 

 after reading her letter published in the last Aiih. 

 She thinks it cruel to liberate the bird, which, if 

 young, having been deprived of parental training and 

 having been furnished life-long protection, shelter, 

 and food ; and, whether old or young, thrust from 

 home care and attention — to which, when liberated, 

 they will frequently return, if not becoming lost — to 

 the vicissitudes of a wild-bird's existence. 



Aretii Bird' s-A'esting. By John Murdoch, in 'Blie 

 C/iaiitaiK/iiaii for May, is an article that will be of in- 

 terest to our readers. The author was a member of 

 one of the two expeditions sent by the United States 

 Government to point Barrow, Alaska, in 1881. 



