DlZ Notes and News. [.July 



Dr. Palmen devoted much attention to the fauna of Finland, on which 

 he published a number of papers, but he was distinguished chiefly as a 

 contributor to the subject of bird migration. His early papers were 

 devoted mainly to birds and one of the first was his work on migration 

 which appeared in Swedish under the title 'Om Foglarnes flyttningsvagar,' 

 Helsingfors, 1S74. It attracted little attention until it was translated into 

 German two years later under the title 'Ueber die Zugstrassen der Vogel,' 

 when it was widely noticed. An elaborate criticism by E. F. von Homeyer 

 induced Palmen to publish an 'Antwort' in 1882. Two other extended 

 papers should also be mentioned, namely his ' Geographische Verbreitung 

 der Hlihner, Sumpf- und Wasservogel im faunistischen Gebiete Finn- 

 lands,' which appeared in the 'Journal fiir Ornithologie' in 1876 (pp. 40- 

 65), and his Report on the Migration of Birds published in German for 

 the Second International Ornithological Congress held at Budapest in 

 1891. An English translation of this 'Report,' by C. W. Shoemaker, 

 appeared in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1892 

 (pp. 375-396), and is the only one of his migration papers which is gen- 

 erally accessible to American readers. Dr. Palmen was a pioneer in 

 defining the 'fly lines' or 'migration routes' of birds and the map which 

 he published in his 'Zugstrassen' showing the principal routes in the 

 Palaearctic region has been the cause of some misunderstanding on the 

 part of those who have not taken the trouble to ascertain his real views. 

 This misunderstanding is explained in his Report of 1891, which is an 

 admirable summary of the work on migration done in Europe down to 

 that date. 



In honor of his 60th birthday in 1905 a 'Festschrift' was published in 

 two volumes, containing his portrait and 18 papers and monographs by 

 his students and colleagues. — T. S. P. 



Dr. E. W. Nelson, chief of the U. S. Biological Survey, announces that 

 the Bureau has assumed the work formerly carried on under the auspices of 

 the Linnaean Society of New York by the American Bird Banding Associa- 

 tion. In taking over this work he says that the Bureau feels that it should 

 express the debt that students of ornithology in this country owe to Mr. 

 Howard H. Cleaves for the devotion and success with which he has con- 

 ducted this investigation up to a point where it has outgrown the possibil- 

 ities of his personal supervision. 



Under plans now being formulated this work will result in valuable 

 information concerning the migration and distribution of North American 

 birds which will be of direct service in the administration of the Migra- 

 tory Bird Treaty Act, as well as of general scientific interest. 



It is desired to develop this work along two principal lines: — first, 

 the trapping and banding of waterfowl, especially ducks and geese, on 

 both their breeding and winter grounds; and secondly, the systematic 

 trapping of land birds as initiated by Mr. S. Prentiss Baldwin, the early 



