V °i 1 8m VI ] Notes and News. T>7 1 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Seventeenth Annual Congress of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union will be held in Philadelphia, in the Lecture Hall of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, beginning on the evening of November 13, 

 1899. The evening session will be for the election of officers and mem- 

 bers and the transaction of the usual routine business. Tuesday and 

 the following days, the sessions will be for the presentation and dis- 

 cussion of scientific papers, and will be open to the public. Members 

 intending to present communications are requested to forward the titles 

 of their papers to the Secretary, Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn., 

 so as to reach him not later than November 8, in order to facilitate the 

 preparation of the program of papers to be read at the Congress. 



Major Joshua L. Fowler, 10th Cavalry, U. S. Army, an Associate 

 Member of the American Ornithologist's Union, died on board the 

 Steamer ' Ella' July 11, 1S99, while returning home from Holguin, Cuba. 

 The immediate cause of death was acute gastritis, but for sometime 

 prior to leaving Holguin, where he was in command, he had had attacks 

 of malarial fever, which probably weakened him and made him more 

 susceptible to the graver disease. 



Major Fowler was born at Fishkill, N. Y., February 20, 1846, and at 

 the age of eighteen entered West Point. Graduating from the Military 

 Academy he was assigned to the 2d U. S. Cavalry, June 15, 1868, pro- 

 moted to captain in 1881, and remained with that regiment until July, 

 189S, when he became Major in the 10th Cavalry. During these thirty 

 years he was stationed at various army posts in Nebraska, Wyoming, 

 Montana, California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Colorado where 

 there was ample opportunity to study the birds. Although not a writer 

 on ornithology, he was deeply interested in the subject, and more than 

 one member of the Union was indebted to him for valuable assistance in 

 procuring specimens and notes. Even at his new post in Cuba, where 

 the duties were rather trying, he found time to write to an ornithological 

 friend about the birds he saw from day to day. 



He was a brave and conscientious soldier, universally beloved and 

 respected by officers and men, an ideal husband and father, and a true 

 friend. His frank, cheerful disposition, courteous manner and sound 

 judgment, coupled with his extensive general knowledge, made him a 

 great favorite, and one who will live long in the memory of a multitude 

 of friends. A wife'and son, Frederick Hall Fowler, also a member of the 

 Union, survive him. — A. K. F. 



Mr. John Cordeaux, a Corresponding Member of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union, died at his residence, Great Cotes House, Lincoln, 



