154 



THE OOLOGIST. 



sp., but whether the bird could have 

 been feeding on these insects I can- 

 not say, as I was too far away to 

 perceive whether the bird captured 

 any, and I certainly did not see it eat 

 any on its perch, after the plunges. 

 Surely, it could not devour the hard- 

 shelled Gyrinus, but in no other way 

 could the bird have captured these 

 two species of insects than by plung- 

 ing, as both are remarkably agile and 

 run with surprising rapidity on the 

 water. Anybody who has tried to cap- 

 ture any of these insects knows how 

 hard it is, and it would not be an easy 

 matter for a bird to secure one, except 

 by plunging. 



It is well known that the White- 

 eyed Vireo feeds on the ground, un- 

 like its relatives, and that it devours 

 many different kinds of insects not 

 eaten by the other Vireonidae, in gen- 

 eral, but I never suspected that it fed 

 on water insects, for I cannot assign 

 any other reason for the bird's pecul- 

 iar plunges than to capture the "Wa- 

 ter Striders," although 1 did not ex- 

 actly see any taken. 



It certainly was a unique perform- 

 ance, and if the bird was not captur- 

 ing insects, what was it's object in 

 plunging into the water? 



RICHARD F. MILLER, 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Dr. Morris Gibbs. 



Dr. Morris Gibbs, of Kalamazoo, 

 Mich., in times gone by, a prolific and 

 valuable contributor to our columns, 

 both reading and advertising, died 

 Sept. 18th. last, at his home. 



As an interesting writer on Bird 

 topics and the originator and persist- 

 ent advocate of the Gibbs' embalming 

 process in taxidermy, Dr. Gibbs will 

 be instantly recalled by all our older 

 subscribers. 



We append below some extracts 

 from an article in the Kalamazoo 

 Telegram": 



"Dr. Robert Morris Gibbs, aged 52 

 years, died this morning at 2:30 at 

 his home, 128 East Lovell street, of 

 paralysis. For the last 21 years he 

 had been disabled as the result of pa- 

 ralysis, and that, added to complete 

 physical break-down, was the cause of 

 death. 



Dr. Gibbs was born and died in the 

 same room in the same house, and all 

 but four years of his life, spent at 

 Howard City (where he "enjoyed the 

 excitement of country practice") was 

 spent in this city, and his residence 

 has been at the family home, 128 

 East Lovell street, during this time. 

 He was educated at the University of 

 Michigan, where he was a member 

 of the class of 1877, and at Rush Med- 

 ical College, Chicago, from w^hich 

 place he graduated in 1879. 



He was a naturalist of a national 

 reputation, being the author of sever- 

 al books on the birds of Michigan, on 

 which subject he was considered an 

 authority. He held the chair of pro- 

 fessor of natural science at Kalama- 

 zoo College for several years, and car- 

 ried on much exi^erimental work along 

 scientific lines, even after he was dis- 

 abled. 



"While deprived of the use of his 

 limbs for the past 21 years, he found 

 much joy in life, and it was often his 

 custom to spend hours at a time in 

 watching spiders and ants at work. 

 He was a clear and close observer of 

 natural phenomena, and at this time 

 has a book in press at Lansing, deal- 

 ing with his favorite subject, "The 

 Birds of Michigan." He was also an 

 extensive writer for magazines and 

 scientific publications. He compiled 

 two large collections of specimen 

 birds, one of which is in the Russel 

 museum at the University of Mich- 

 igan, the other being in Lansing." 



