iy6 Notes and Netos. [April 



now ready "contains a finely colored plate on which are represented seven 

 specimens of the Bahama Fruit Finch (Spindalis zena), covering all 

 Stages of plumage from nestling to adult," etc. 



The antedating of papers or works on natural history is an evil to which 

 attention has often heen called, and efforts have from time to time been 

 made, on the part of both authors and editors, to guard against misdating. 

 These efforts, however well intended, seem not always effectual, and even 

 may make a had matter worse. The dilatoriness of the Government Press 

 in issuing reports and other works relating to science is notorious; such 

 documents sometimes slumbeiing in the form of printed sheets for months 

 and even years, before they are distributed to the public. Their authors 

 are powerless, as are the would-be readers of these important scientific 

 contributions, to secure their prompt publication; they frequently do not 

 reach the public till a year or two later than the supposed date of publica- 

 tion borne on their title-pages. Cases of this sort are too numerous and 

 too well-known to require specification; but it seems a pity that the Pro- 

 ceedings' and other publications of the National Museum should have to 

 he added to the category of antedated publications. Presumably to fix the 

 exact date of publication, each signature of the -Proceedings' is elated with 

 what is supposed to he the date of its issuance from the Government 

 Printing Office ; and generally the elate has accorded reasonably well with 

 the date of their reception by libraries and the specialists to whom they 

 are sent. This, however, has not been the case of late, three or four months 

 sometimes having elapsed between the presumed dates of publication borne 

 on the sheets and the actual date of their distribution. In the interest 

 of both science and veracity, it would be well to omit the dates altogether. 

 or take some means to have them give correctly the information implied. 



We are pleased to learn that Mr. Charles F. Morrison, now of Fort 

 Lewis, Colorado, Vice-President of the Bristol County. Mass., Ornitho- 

 logical Club, is engaged in the preparation of a complete list of the birds 

 of Colorado, which will form 'Publication No. i' ot" the recently organized 

 Colorado State Ornithological Association, of which Mr. Morrison is Pres- 

 ident pro ton. The members of the Association are cooperating in the work, 

 and excellent circulars of instruction have heen issued by Mr. Morrison, 

 calling upon them for full and carefully annotated lists of the birds of their 

 respective localities. Doubtless good results may he safely anticipated 

 from this carefully planned system of cooperation. 



Mr. Thomas McIlwraith's excellent little manual, entitled 'The Birds 

 of Ontario,' comes to hand barely in time for this brief announcement. 

 It form an octavo volume of 320 pages, published by the Hamilton Asso- 

 ciation, of Hamilton, Ontario. 



