56 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 4 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MOXTHLY MAGAZISE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESl'ECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OP 



BIRDS, 



THEIR NESTS A^'D EGGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THE INTERCHANOE OF NOTES 

 AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTUCKET, R. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



Wc have received the International Sci- 

 entists' Director}' for 1885, (S. E. Cassino 

 & Co.. Boston). The large number of 

 names contained in this directory, covering 

 every quarter of the globe, makes it a 

 useful addition to one's reference library. 

 We are pleased to notice the large propor- 

 tion of asterisks, showing the addresses 

 liave been verified since the last edition. 



The last few months have brought their 

 usual crop of new magazines. Amongst 

 them we note the Jouniul of 3Ii/coki(/y, 

 published at Manhattan, Kansas, devoted 

 to North American Fungi : the Worcciiter 

 County Naturalist, jjublished by the 

 Young Men's Scientific Club, Worcester, 

 Mass.: Tidings from JVature ; The West 

 American Scientist; Pacific Science 

 Monthly, etc., etc. We have also been in- 

 formed of still newer aspii-ants for a place 

 in a field already more than occupied. 



Mr. A. W. Butler favors us with reprints 

 of articles contributed to the American 

 Naturalist and ^Imerican Meteorolofilcal 

 Journal on " The Habits of some Arvicol- 

 inie:" "Hibernation of the Lower Verte- 

 brates" and "Local Weather Lore." We 

 have also to acknowledge "Migration and 

 Distribution of North American Birds in 

 Brown and Outagamie Counties, Wis," an 



exhaustive essay by Mr. S. W. Willard. 

 De Pere, Wis. 



Bird life seems unusually late in our vi- 

 cinity this year. Up to March 26th. Win- 

 ter reigned undisturbed, and the few mi- 

 grants 'were not demonstrative. Fine 

 Spring days on 27th and 28th, infused a 

 little enthusiasm, only to be checked by a 

 heavy snowstorm on the night of the 28th. 

 Several of our correspondents refer to the 

 lateness of the season. Dr. Atkins (Locke. 

 Mich..) says that up to the 2(ith, only three 

 migrants, the Crow, Robin and Mourning 

 Dove, had made their appearance. On the 

 other hand, our reports from the Pacific 

 slope are widely different. Mr. Emerson 

 writes from Hay wards, Cal., March 23d. 

 that it is the earliest season he has ob 

 served in five years. Nests have been 

 taken that are a month ahead of time. 



We insert this month "Hints to Collec- 

 tors" by a practical ornithologist whose 

 name, were we at liberty to publish it, 

 would be a guarantee at once for the cor- 

 rectness of his opinions and the sound 

 ness of his advice. There is nuich practi- 

 cal common sense in the writer's remarks, 

 and we commend them especially to oiu- 

 readers whose experience in the field is yet 

 to be gained. 



With this number, Mr. Walter Hoxie's 

 "List of Birds of the Sea Islands. So. 

 Car." is completed. No one can have ex- 

 amined the hsts given in our magazine 

 since January, without being struck at 

 once with the great variety of birds which 

 visit the Sea Islands during the year, and 

 the keen observation, extending over many 

 years, which Mr. Hoxie has shown in his 

 notes. Few fields so rich, or observers so 

 competent, are to be found either on our 

 coasts or elsewhere. 



We are asked for a list of the birds of 

 the vicinity of Lake George, N. Y., and 

 also for one of Long Island. Perhaps 

 some of our readers will supply us with 

 these desiderata. 



