334 Notes and News. [^ 



by his friends, Messrs. Alfaro and Zeledon, to whose ready assistance and 

 knowledge of the country much of the success of his trip was due. 



In the vicinity of Pigres, at the entrance of the Gulf of Nicoya, the 

 party made the acquaintance of Arinia boucardi, a hummingbird known 

 only from the original pair, collected in 1876, by the late M. Boucard. At 

 Bonilda they found the rare cuckoo, Neomorfhus salvini, and such desir- 

 able tanagers as Calospiza Jlorida and C. guttata ; while on the Volcano 

 of Turrialba specimens of JSmpidonax atriceps, Contopus ochraceus and 

 two new species of Chlorospingus were secured. 



Knowing so well the Costa Rican material contained in the National 

 Museum, Mr. Ridgway was enabled to direct his attention to filling gaps 

 in the collection, and, although nearly three months elapsed before the 

 arrival of his outfit, he succeed in bringing back over 1300 very desirable 

 specimens, representing many important desiderata. A number of 

 species interesting from an anatomical view point were preserved in 

 alcohol. 



Major Edgar A. Mearns, Medical Corps, U. S. Army, who has been 

 in this country for a number of months on sick leave, is about to return 

 to his post of duty in the Philippines, and will doubtless be able to 

 resume, as circumstances may favor, his important natural history 

 explorations begun during his former official sojourn of nearly two 

 years in these islands. These resulted in his discovery of several new 

 genera, and many new species and subspecies, of both birds and mam- 

 mals, which he has been able promptly to publish during his enforced 

 leave of absence in the United States. 



Messrs. E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman are devoting the present 

 season to a careful reconnaisance of the peninsula of Lower California 

 and its islands, especially those in the Gulf of California. 



Dr. Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey (now raised from a Divi- 

 sion to the rank of a Bureau of the Department of Agriculture), is con- 

 tinuing his survey of California, and Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Baily are 

 continuing their work in New Mexico. 



The one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the birth of John 

 James Audubon was commemorated by appropriate exercises in the Church 

 of the Intercession, Broadway and 158th Street, New York City, on the 

 evening of May 4, 1905. Addresses were made by the Hon. Alton B. 

 Parker, Mr. Richard Watson Gilder, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, Mr. Ernest 

 Thompson Seton, and others, with an original poem by Mr. Edward 

 Doyle. At the American Museum of Natural History a large collection 

 of Auduboniana was placed on temporary exhibition in honor of the 

 occasion, including the portifolio used by Audubon in soliciting subscrip- 

 tions to his great work, many of his original drawings, his hunting coat, 

 gun, and other mementoes of his early wanderings in Labrador and the 

 Far West. 



