18S5.] Notes and News. 2 2 2 



Agency. The Indians have names for 114 of these 240, or 47.^ per cent. 

 There are 71 non-breeders, that is migrants and winter visitants, of which 

 14, or about 20 per cent., are named, and 169 breeders, of which 100 

 or about 60 per cent., are named. So that Mr. Henshaw is correct in 

 judging that more than half of the breeders should have names. 



The past summer I spent several months among the Otoes, a small 

 tribe in the Indian Territory, and though no complete list of their bird 

 names was collected, yet enough was learned to indicate that in this mat- 

 ter they are poverty stricken. 

 Morekead, Minn., Dec. 4. 1884. W. W. Cooke. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In Dr. Merriam's 'Preliminary Report of the Committee on Bird Mi- 

 gration,' published in the last number of 'The Auk,' attention was called 

 to the fact that the amount of material, in the way of returns from observ- 

 ers, could not be properly elaborated without considerable pecuniary assist- 

 ance.' Foreseeing this state of affairs, the Union, at its last meeting 

 (Sept., 1S84), instructed the Council to prepare and present a proper 

 memorial to Congress in behalf of the Committee. We are happy to 

 state that the appeal was so far successful that an appropriation of $5000 

 in aid of the work was secured through the Department of Agriculture. 

 This sum will doubtless enable the Committee to not only carry on the 

 present year's field-work successfully, but to do much toward getting the 

 results of last year's work in proper shape for publication. As is well 

 known, the Migration Committee and the Committee on the Geograph- 

 ical Distribution of North American Birds has been consolidated, and the 

 Committee has now in hand not only the subject of migration, but also 

 the elaboration of all available or obtainable data on the distribution of 

 the species throughout the continent, a subject of well-known interest and 

 importance. 



In 1883, the legislature of Maine repealed all acts providing for the 

 appointment of taxidermists and the taking of birds, nests, and eggs for 

 scientific purposes. Abuses had sprung up under the old statutes, and 

 the law-makers believed that the best remedy would be found in a policy 

 of total prohibition. For two years, therefore, ornithology has made 

 little progress in Maine. During the past winter the Portland Society of 

 Natural History made a determined and successful effort to secure the 

 passage of a law in behalf of collectors. The bill presented by the 

 Society was adopted, with several unimportant changes, but with one 

 provision which is objectionable — which, however, was made a .«//e </>/<( 



