414 Notes and Nezvs. [q"J^ 



During his brief life, Mr. Birtwell liad been an industrious ornitholo- 

 gist. From his earliest j'outh he evinced a remarkable interest in the 

 study of birds, which attracted the attention of local ornithologists. He 

 was an active member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. He founded 

 the Elliott Coues chapter of the Agassiz Society of Jamaica Plain, of which 

 he was president until leaving for the west. He was the founder and first 

 president of the Roxbury High School branch of the Agassiz Association, 

 was a charter member of the American Bird Restorers' Association, and, 

 for two years, kept the records of bird migration for his section for the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington. Through the friendship of 

 Dr. Coues, he became a member of the A. O. U. He was a contributor 

 to 'The Auk,' ' The Osprey,' ' The Nidologist,' ' Science,' ' Popular Science,' 

 the Boston ' Transcript,' and tlie Dorchester 'Beacon.' 



The Dorchester 'Beacon ' speaks of him as "an exceptionally brilliant 

 young man, — a man possessed of a deep and thorough knowledge of the 

 flora and fauna of his country, and a finished, graceful and interesting 



writer His contributions throbbed with love of Nature in her every 



form. His latest and, alas that we must say, his last contribution to the 

 ' Beacon,' dated Albuquerque, Jan. 15, was reminiscent of the old Back 

 Street woods and a plea for the salvation of the few remaining fields and 

 woods of Dorchester." Dr. Coues wrote of an article young Birtwell had 

 submitted to him that he knew of no other boy of his age who could have 

 written so ably, and he predicted for him a great future. 



At the time of the crusade against the House Sparrow in Mayor 

 Quincy's administration in Boston, young Birtwell was the principal 

 speaker in denunciation of the bird. 



In May last, Mr. Birtwell was married to Miss Olivia Morton, a native 

 of Iowa. 



The peculiar conditions affecting faunal life in New Mexico were of 

 especial interest to Mr. Birtwell. Though he had, in his few years, 

 accomplished much, "his keen powers of observation, his independence 

 of thought," and "his tireless zeal" made him "a young man whose 

 career promised to be of great service to ornithology." — O. M. B. 



An Australasian Ornithologists' Union, we are pleased to note, has 

 recentlv been inaugurated and will hold its "first General Meeting at Ade- 

 laide in October or November," for the election of officers and permanent 

 organization. The objects of the Society, as stated in its ' Provisional 

 Rules,' are "the advancement and popularization of the Science of Orni- 

 thology, the protection of useful and ornamental avifauna, and the editing 

 and publication of a magazine or periodical, to be called 'The Emu,' or 

 such magazine or periodical as the Society may from time to time deter- 

 mine upon." The financial year of the Union began the ist of July, 1901, 

 and the first number of ' The Emu ' is to be issued early in October. A ' gen- 

 eral meeting ' is to be held annually, "in the capital of one or other of the 



