Vol. XXXVI 1 AI . , , r irQ 



X919 A ores and News. loo 



Our whole object was to emphasize the fact that these lists did not have 

 the authority of the A. O. U. They simply represent the present status 

 of nomenclature if all the proposed changes not subsequently rejected by 

 others were accepted. 



The use of the words "becomes" and "will therefore stand" have misled 

 others into the view that the final action had been taken, whereas Dr. 

 Oberholser simply means "becomes" or "will therefore stand " provided the 

 proposed change is accepted. 



It has proved impracticable to hold meetings of the Committee for the 

 past several years and in order to have all proposed changes conveniently 

 accessible, Dr. Oberholder has, at the request of the chairman, prepared 

 these annual lists for final action when a new Check-List is prepared. — 

 W. S. 



Walter Freeman McMahon, an Associate of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union, was killed in action, in France, August 28, 1918. 



Mr. McMahon was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, June 17, 1889. He 

 attended the Shurtleff School at Chelsea and later the Lewis School at 

 Roxbury. Subsequently he took a course in the School of Fine Arts, and 

 studied zoology at Harvard University. He early developed an intense 

 interest in the study of birds and for a time lectured extensively at various 

 places in Massachusetts. He conducted bird exhibitions in Tremont 

 Temple and the Mechanics' Building in Boston. For two years he was 

 secretary to Edward H. Forbush, State Ornithologist of Massachusetts, 

 during which time he conducted much of the correspondence of the office 

 and drew many of the illustrations used in Mr. Forbush's bulletins. He 

 served a year as secretary of the Massachusetts Game Protective Associa- 

 tion with an office in Boston. In January, 1917, he was called to the office 

 of the National Association of Audubon Societies in New York, where in a 

 short time he became Chief Clerk. The bird walks he conducted in Central 

 Park quickly became well known, and many bird-lovers in the City thus 

 made his acquaintance. He was a member of the Linna^an Society and 

 regularly attended its meetings. He left the Association on March 15, 

 1918, to enter the Army and in less than sixty days sailed for France. He 

 saw more than a month's service in the front lines and as "scout" for his 

 platoon was engaged in a number of dangerous enterprises. It was while 

 undertaking a desperate mission in this capacity that he met his death from 

 the bullet of a German sniper while crossing No-man's Land. Walter 

 McMahon was not only a forceful character, but he possessed, to an unusual 

 degree, an innate refinement and a quiet courtesy that particularly endeared 

 him to all with whom he was associated. — T. G. P. 



Douglas Clifford Mabbott, at the time a private in the 79th Com- 

 pany, 6th Regiment of the United States Marine Corps, was killed in action 

 to the north of Chateau Thierry, France, September 15, 1918. Mabbott 

 has been an Associate of the American Ornithologists' Union since 1916 



