^*'''i9l2 ] Rhoads, Ornithological Publications oj C. S. Rafinesque. 191 



ADDITIONS TO THE KNOWN ORNITHOLOGICAL 

 PUBLICATIONS OF C. S. RAFINESQUE. 



BY SAMUEL N. RHOADS. 



In looking up references to the published writings of Constan- 

 tino S. Rafinesque for material relating to Birds, I have secured 

 verbatim copies of two interesting contributions of his to the 

 Kentucky Gazette. These, evidently, were not known to Dr. 

 C. W. Richmond when he published reprints of Rafinesque's 

 contributions to Ornithology in 'The Auk', Vol. 26, 1909. 



So rare is the Kentucky Gazette at this writing, that only one 

 file of it and that quite imperfect is available for reference. This 

 is in the Library of Congress, and through the liberality of Mr. 

 Herbert Putnam I have been able to get copies of the articles 

 referred to. They were published under the sub-title of "The 

 Cosmonist." It will be noted that these are Rafinesque's third 

 and fourth Natural History contributions to the paper, under this 

 heading. It is likely if a complete file of the Kentucky Gazette 

 could be secured that some other references to birds might be found 

 therein, for Rafinesque in his later publication, "The Atlantic 

 Journal," page 208, refers to "twenty numbers" of "The Cos- 

 monist" as having been published. 



For an essay on "Rafinesque as an Ornithologist," the reader is 

 referred to the recent issue of "Cassinia" for 1911, published by 

 the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. The following reprints 

 were considered too long for that article and more appropriate 

 for 'The Auk', in which Dr. Richmond's articles on Rafinesque's 

 writings appeared. 



Fortunately for our author, these articles are based on his own 

 personal observations of the birds described and from actual 

 specimens, in contrast to his bird notes founded on the fishy stories 

 which were confided to him by Audubon when the two met on that 

 memorable occasion at Henderson, Kentucky. Indeed these two 

 Kentucky Gazette articles do more credit to Rafinesque from the 

 ornithological standpoint than all the rest of his bird papers put 

 together and atone in no small degree for the curious performances 



