Notes — Here and There 157 



NOTES=HERE AND THERE 



Conducted by the Secretary 



At its last annual meeting The Wilson Club passed resolutions 

 supporting national legislation designed to prohibit the construc- 

 tion of dams and water power plants in our National Parks. It is 

 good news to know that this amendment passed and now no such 

 development can be carried out without special act of Congress. 

 By the former law such permission could be granted by the Fed- 

 eral Power Commission. 



Dr. R. M. Strong, our President, spent his vacation as usual on 

 the Great Lakes, where at one time or another he has visited prac- 

 tically all of the breeding colonies of gvills and terns. During the 

 " indoor season "' Dr. Strong spends his spare time delving into the 

 little worked field of avian anatomy. 



Our worthy contemporary, The Auk, finds itself a victim of the 

 printer's strike and its July luimber is something like two months 

 behind. 



The annual meeting of the American Ornithologist Union will 

 be held in Philadelphia during the week of November 14th, 1921. 



Additional volumes of the Life Histories of North American 

 Birds are being looked forward to with keen anticipation. Mr. A. 

 C. Bent's first volume, on The Diving Birds, is to be followed by 

 one on The Gulls and Terns, which is now set up in type. The 

 manuscript for the third volume, covering Pelicans and Petrels, is 

 complete and the author is at work on a fourth volume, which will 

 treat of the Ducks and Geese. When the species not covered by 

 Bendire have been disposed of, it is to be hoped that the way will 

 be made clear for the republication of the Bendire volumes, revised 

 to date and unifoi'm in size with those now being issued. 



Bird banding has received a most remarkable impetus during 

 the past few years and to complete the " chain of evidence " a vig- 

 orous campaign of winter trapping is desirable. This is particu- 

 larly needed from southei'n localities and offers a fertile suggestion 

 to our southern members. Full instruction and explanation of the 

 work is embodied in Department Bulletin, " Instructions for Bird 

 Banding," by F. C. Lincoln, and copies may be secured gratis by 

 addressing The Biological Survey in Washington. 



Perhaps no one item is so useful for attracting and retaining 

 winter birds about the premises as a brush pile constructed in a 

 thicket. The writer has a copse near his home in which he con- 

 structed a brush pile of considerable size and no less than five spe- 

 cies of winter birds used it as a refuge and roosting place through- 

 out the past winter. The higher the pile the more acceptable it is. 



