vol. xxx vi j Notes and News ^ 323 



will insure greater protection of the wild life and we hope will result in the 

 publication at an early date of information concerning the birds of these 

 interesting regions. 



Geographic Distribution of A. O. U. Membership.— As shown 

 by the list published in this number of 'The Auk' the A. O. U. now has 

 members in all of the states except three (Arkansas, Delaware and Mis- 

 sissippi), and also in Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines and Samoa, as well 

 as in all of the provinces of Canada except Alberta and Nova Scotia. 



The foreign members, known as Honorary and Corresponding Fellows, 

 number 85 and are widely distributed in all parts of the world. In America 

 they are located in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, and 

 Argentina; in Europe in all of the principal countries except Norway, 

 Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the Balkan States; and in 

 Africa in South Rhodesia and Transvaal. The Union also has represen- 

 tatives in Ceylon, Japan, the Federated Malay States, British Papua, 

 South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. — T. S. P. 



The American Game Protective Association, the sportsmen's national 

 organization, has done excellent work in branding as erroneous an Associ- 

 ated Press Dispatch to the effect that the Supreme Court at Washington 

 has declared the Federal Migratory bird law unconstitutional. From their 

 statement the country has been informed that "the so-called Federal 

 Migratory bird law was repealed on July 3, 1917, when the President signed 

 the Canadian treaty enabling act. The new measure which superseded 

 the old one is a better and bigger law with exactly the same object in view. 

 It provides what the former law lacked, an efficient machinery for its 

 enforcement, and the governments of this country and Canada are now 

 squarely united in the protection of all the birds of the continent north of 

 the Rio Grande. 



"What happened at Washington was that the solici tor-general asked to 

 have dismissed his own motion before the Supreme Court, which was to 

 test the constitutionality of the original migratory bird law. It was no 

 use arguing the case, because there is no longer any Weeks-McLean law. 



"The federal regulations, therefore, which absolutely protect in this 

 country the birds which are valuable to agriculture and which make open 

 seasons for the migratory birds which are shot for sport, are still in effect 

 and the Federal Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute any vio- 

 lations of these regulations." 



W. L. McAtee wishes to announce that he has undertaken as a hobby 

 the preparation of a dictionary of vernacular names applied to A. O. U. 

 checklist birds. As the project involves the examination of practically 

 the whole ornithological literature of America, the main purpose of this 

 announcement is to elicit information as to whether the field is clear. It 



