332 Notes and News. [Jjjj 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Charles K. Worthen, an Associate of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union, died at his home in Warsaw, Illinois, during the last week in May, 1 

 1909, in the 59th year of his age, he having been born in Warsaw, Sep- 

 tember 6, 1850. His father, Amos H. Worthen, was for many years 

 State Geologist of Illinois, residing at Springfield, where young Worthen 

 was educated in the public schools. In 1867, he became associated with 

 his father as draughtsman, and the ten years following this date he was 

 engaged in illustrating the reports of the Illinois Geological Survey, and 

 was also employed in a similar capacity on the reports of the Wheeler 

 Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian. One winter was spent 

 at the Agassiz Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, making drawings of 

 the teeth of fossil sharks under the direction of Mr. Orestes H. St. John. 

 Naturally, under such associations, he became strongly interested in nat- 

 ural history, but appears to have never seriously entered upon research 

 work, and has hence published very little. His knowledge of the subject, 

 however, was considerable, and his tastes led him to engage in the collec- 

 tion and sale of natural history specimens, in this way becoming well 

 known to the naturalists of the country, and especially to museum curators, 

 who found him always intelligent and trustworthy. For a number of 

 years he was a member of the school board of Warsaw, and at the time of 

 his death was one of the directors of the public library. Personally he 

 was genial and companionable, of an optimistic temperament, and widely 

 respected by his fellowtownsmen. He was married in 1873, and is sur- 

 vived by his widow, a son and two daughters. The press of Warsaw has 

 paid high tribute to his memory as a valued citizen. 



The June issue of 'British Birds' (Volume III, No. 1) propounds a 

 'British Birds' scheme for marking ('tagging' birds, as an aid in acquiring 

 definite information regarding the movements of individual birds, and thus 

 obtaining light on some of the imperfectly understood features of bird 

 migration. In an editorial on the subject, reference is made to results 

 thus achieved in Denmark and Germany, and instructions are given in 

 reference to the marking of birds and reporting their subsequent capture. 

 In short, a system is proposed very much like that in vogue in this country 

 (see Auk, XXVI, April, 1909, pp. 137-143), although no reference is here 

 made to the American records or methods. Mr. H. F. Witherby, the 

 editor of 'British Birds,' has prepared the following circular on the subject, 

 for which we gladly give space in the present connection. 



" A short while ago a Stork was shot in Rhodesia bearing upon its leg a 

 metal ring, which proved that the bird had been marked in Prussia, when 

 it was a nestling, by the Rossitten Bird Observatory, while more recently a 

 Stork similarly ' ringed ' in Hungary was shot in the Kalahari Desert. 



1 Exact date not yet received; the funeral was on May 29. 



