2 24 Notes and News. \^t^k 



Lord Lester, paid to the recipient the following high tribute : "Profes- 

 sor Newtbn has devoted himself for the last fifty years to the study of 

 ornithology; and the 'Dictionary of Birds' may well be called the 

 resume of his labors. Professor Newton's work is eminently critical — a 

 model of careful and cautious criticism of everything pertaining to his fa- 

 vorite branch of science. The ' Dictionary of Birds ' is the acknowledged 

 standard work on ornithology, the progress of which science in this 

 countrv is due mainly to his critical, suggestive, and stimulating influ- 

 ence. His personal labors refer chiefly to historical, systematic, and 

 faunistic questions It is by his untiring efforts that the vexed question 

 of nomenclature and synonymy has been practically settled and has been 

 put on its present footing. He is also one of the leading authorities in 

 the modern branch of zoogeography, which owes some of the most 

 important modifications and genei-alizations to him. Lastly, it is only 

 fair to mention that he is one of the few zoologists among his contem- 

 poraries who, from the first, embraced the doctrine of evolution accord- 

 ing to Darwinian principles." 



The Fifth Annual meeting of the Audubon Society of New York 

 State was held in the large lecture hall of the American Museum of Nat- 

 ural History on March 8, 1901. The President, Morris K. Jesup, pre- 

 sided. The exercises included the annual election, Mr. Jesup being ree- 

 lected to the office of President, and Miss E. H. Lockwood to that of 

 Secretary-Treasurer, and addresses by Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Dr. T. S. 

 Palmer, William Dutcher, and Frank M. Chapman. Mr. Skinner spoke 

 of the 'Educational Value of Bird Study ' which, with the study of the 

 more common forms of animal and plant-life about us, he characterized 

 as of greater importance than the study, in a foreign tongue, of events 

 which transpired 2000 years ago. He emphasized especially the elevating, 

 purifying influence of contact with nature and heartily endorsed all 

 educational work which would tend to give us a practical knowledge of 

 creatures with which we daily come in contact. Dr. Palmer spoke of 

 the necessity for laws designed to protect non-game as well as game 

 birds, and explained in detail the relation of the Federal to State Laws ; 

 the most important provision of the Federal law making an animal 

 subject to the laws of whatever State or Territory it chances to be in. 



Mr. Chapman reviewed the work of the Audubon Societies and com- 

 mented on the remarkable results they had accomplished with only lim- 

 ited means. Mr. Dutcher exhibited a series of slides, made by himself 

 on the Maine coast during July, 1900, and showing certain of the larger 

 colonies of Herring Gulls which had been protected from the demands 

 of feather hunters by w'ardens whose services Mr. Dutcher had secured 

 by means of the Thayer F'und. 



The a. O. U. Committee on Bird Protection stands ready to inves- 

 tigate any illegal killing of birds duly reported to any member of the 

 Committee. For a list of the members for the present year see ' The Auk ' 

 for Jan.. 1901, pp. 103, 104. 



