222 Correspondence. [April 



a few moments, and then running to the edge of the water and bathing 

 freely. After dressing her feathers she started along the beach in the 

 direction in which I was sitting, a mistake not noticed by her until too 

 late. I can find no record of the occurrence of this species so far north, 

 therefore think its capture worthy of note. — N. S. Goss. Topeka, Kansas. 



The Ocurrence of Chroicocephalus franklini in Wisconsin. — October 

 22, 1884, I took a female specimen of this Gull near the mouth of Fox 

 River. Two other Gulls accompanied it, which I was unable to secure. 

 They were probably the same species. — Samuel Wells Willard, West 

 De Pere. Wise. 



Rissa tridactyla kotzbuei in Washington Territory. — I can find no 

 mention of the occurrence of the Pacific Kittiwake Gull south of Alaska, 

 and therefore think it will be of interest for me to say that I killed a pair 

 of the birds March 2, 1882, at Port Townsend, the only ones observed by 

 me on the coast. I have the male in my collection. — N. S. Goss, Topeka, 

 Kansas. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



[Correspondents are requested to write brietly and to the point. No attention will 

 be paid to anonymous communications, .] 



Indian Bird Names. 



To the Editors of the Auk : — 



Sirs: Under the head of 'Correspondence' in the October number of 

 'The Auk' Mr. Ilenshaw notes with surprise my statement that "They 

 [the Chippewa Indians] have no specific name for fully one-half of those 

 [birds] which yearly nest before their eyes or pass by in migration." 

 He goes on to say, '-That Indians should know little of the birds, espec- 

 ially of the smaller kinds, that visit this country only as migrants, is not 

 perhaps surprising, but that any considerable number of birds inhabiting 

 their country, even of the smaller and inconspicuous kinds, should not be 

 known to Indians and be named by them is surprising." At the time I 

 made my statement I based it on the following facts. There occur in that 

 part of Minnesota about 250 species of birds; as the Chippewas have less 

 than 125 bird names, they name less than half of those "which yearly nest 

 before their eyes or pass by in migration." I did not mean by this, less 

 than half of the migrants and less than half of the breeders, but less than 

 half of the sum total. Since reading Mr. Henshaw's letter, I have gone 

 over the subject again, with the following results. 



Dr. Hatch, in his iSSo list of Minnesota birds, gives 281 species. Of 

 these, at least 240 occur during some part of every year at White Earth 



