^OO Nofes and JVezvs. [D.tol.cr 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The plate ;xcc<nnpanying the present number of 'The Auk" illustrates 

 two species of Screech Owl from Mexico, described by Mr. William 

 Brewster in 'The Auk' for January, iS88 (Vol. V, pp. 87, 88), and now for 

 the first time figured. Both species are based on specimens collected by 

 Mr. R. R. McLeod in the Province of Chihuahua. 



Dr. John I. Northrop, an Associate Member of the A. O. U., and a 

 P^ellow in Geology at the School of Mines, Columbia College, died June 

 j6, 1891, at the age of twenty-nine years. His tragic ending was pecu- 

 liarly sad, his death resulting from burns caused by an explosion of alcohol 

 in the cellar of the School of Mines on the day preceding his death. Di . 

 Northrop was born in New York City, Oct. 12, 1S61. lie received his 

 early education at the Columbia Grammar School, whence he entered the 

 Columbia College School of Mines in 1880, graduating in 1884 with the 

 degree of a Mining Engineer, and in 1S87, after a further course of stud}', 

 received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He then, as P'ellow in 

 Geology at the School of Mines, became Assistant to Prof. J. S. Newberry. 

 His special line of study, liowever, was in the line of Zoology, and he 

 had recently received leave of absence from his college duties to pursue 

 a special course of study abroad with a view to promotion to a higher 

 position, which had already been oftered him. 



About a vear preceding his death he married Miss Rich of the Normal 

 School of New York City, and their wedding trip was a visit to the Bahamas 

 to collect and study the fauna and flora of these islands. Both also at- 

 tended the A. O. U. meeting held last year in Washington. Dr. Nor- 

 throp's paper on the birds of Andros Island, read before the Union and 

 afterwards published in 'The Auk' (Vol. VIII, pp. 64-80, with a colored 

 plate of Icterus iiorthropi), being one of the incidental results of the 

 trip. He also read, in October, 1890, a paper before the New York Acad- 

 emy of Sciences on the Geology of Andros Island (Trans. N. Y. Acad. 

 Sci., X, pp. 4-23). and had in manuscript at the time of his death several 

 extended papers on the invertebrates of the Bahamas, to which he gave 

 special attention. Dr. Northrop gave promise of eminence in his chosen 

 field, and his bright prospects render his untimely death exceptionally 

 sad, and a severe shock to his many scientific and other friends to whom 

 he had personally endeared himself. 



August von Pelzeln, an Honorary Member of the A. O. U., died at 

 Vienna, Sept. 2, 1891, at the age of 67 years. A notice of the life and 

 works of this long-eminent German ornithologist is necessarily deferred 

 till a later number of 'The Auk.' 



The Ninth Congress of the American Ornithologists' Union will 

 be held at the Ani'^rican Museum of Natural History, New York City, 

 November 17-19- 1891. It is hoped that the regular increase in attendance 



