THE OOLOOTST. 



11 



we confess, with some misgivings, for it 

 did not seem credible that animal life 

 cotiid withstand such treatment. But 

 we have lately been presented by Mrs. 

 G. R. Audubon with a letter which was 

 originally written to Mr. Audubon, in 

 1832, which tends to confirm the ab(nv 

 statement. Bat we give the letter en- 

 tire, as 'follows : 



Boston, Nov. 21, 1832. 

 Mu. J. J. Audubon : 



Dear Sir: Abjut sixteen years since 

 a lar.;-e e.agle {Falco osHfr<jffns),heloni;' 

 ing to the Liunean S ^ciety, in this city, 

 was sentenced to contribute his skin to 

 a cabinet of natural history, and a va- 

 riety of experiments were made with a 

 view to destroy him without injuring 

 his pulmage. A nmnber of mineral 

 poisons were successively given him in 

 large doses, but without effect. At 

 length a dram of corrosive sublim-ite of 

 mercury was inchjsed in a small fish, 

 and given him to eat. After swallowing 

 the whole of this he continued, to ap- 

 pearance, pcirlectly well and free from 

 inconvenience. The next day an equal 

 quantity of white arsenic was given 

 him, without any greater effect ; so that, 

 in the end, the refractory bird was ob- 

 liged to be put to deatlj by mechanical 

 means. Tiie expjrhnents were made by 

 Dr. Haywood and myself,in presence of 

 other members of the society. Very 

 tral}^ youi" obedient servant. 



Jacob Bigelow. 



Editorial Notes. 



"Bird Population." — In another col- 

 unm will be found an article entitled 

 "Tlie Birds (m a farm," by Mr. Henry 

 Hales of Kidgewood, N.J. who is a great 

 observer of Nature. The field chosen 

 by Mr.Hales,is an interesting one,and if 

 well seconded by othes in various parts 

 of the counti'y would aid the curious in 

 foriiiing some idea of our "Bird popula- 

 tion." We hope others of our readex'S 



will during the season of 1881 follow in 

 the footsteps of Mr. Hales and thor- 

 oughly develop the Bird population of 

 their own farms, and report the result 

 to the Oologist for publication. 



Audubon Plates. — In our advertising 

 columns will be found a series of plates 

 of Birds from Audubon's Doiible Ele 

 phant Folio Work. These plates are 

 iibout as good as original Engravings, 

 as duplicates could not be supplied at 

 any pidce, we have only one of each 

 kind and no ornithologist should be 

 without one, or a pair. 



Correction. — In the article on page 

 56, Nrnnber 9, referring to the migra- 

 tion of night Hawks should read May 

 15, instead of June 15. This correc- 

 ion should heve appeared in our last 

 number but was mislaid by the Printer. 



November Notes. 



J. M. W. 



In the course of a short article on 

 the season of 1880, in the October num- 

 ber of this Journal, I inadvertently re- 

 ferred some pheonenal New London 

 County eggs to the Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catcher. The species should of course 

 have h-een Yellow throated Fly-catcher, 

 {Vireo flavifrons). The nest as usual 

 was pensile and a marvel of beauty, and 

 neither the nest nor bird could be mis- 

 taken for any other. I am sorry that 

 this specific error should have crept 

 into print, for the Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catcher is rare here in the breeding sea- 

 son, and I have never seen any local 

 nests or eggs. 



At Noank, Nov. 6, 1 watched a cordon 



of boats filled with a crowd of boys 



I surround a Grebe, by following the 



I course of its dives and by anticipating 



' its rise. They at length exhausted the 



bird and captured it by hand. These 



Grebes and the Great Northern Diver 



are n(jt infrequently tiiken in the Spring 



and Fall by the nets of the fish traps at 



Groton; Long Point and its neighbor- 



