152 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 10 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



0()LOGIST. 



A MOXTULY ilAGAZIXE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



E9PECIALLT DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OP 



BIRDS. 



TBF.m NESTS AND EGGS. 



DESUINED A6 A MEANS POK THE INTEIICHANOE OF NOTES 

 AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIIID LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 

 PAWTDCKET, R. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



We supplement our articles on Taxider- 

 my by a short series on Practical Ento- 

 mology, for which we are indebtt^d to 

 Messrs. Wright and Bates of Boston. The 

 first of these articles is given this month. 



Among the numerous Magazines appear- 

 ing for the first time this year, we have 

 been much pleased with '•TAe Mascum" 

 which we hoped would secure a permanent 

 place. It is therefore with some regret 

 that we announce, as requested, that it has 

 been merged into ":7'Ae American An- 

 tiquarum," a new department of which to 

 be called "The Museum," especially de- 

 signed for collectors, will be in charge of 

 the late editor. 



We notice in ^'i^cience" that what is left 

 of Audubon's collection of birds has been 

 presented to Amherst College, Mass. Many 

 of the skins, of which there were about GOO, 

 were unfit for mounting, but Professor 

 Ward has prepared about 100 for exhibi- 

 tion in the College Museum. 



Gulls, Terns and Grebes at Emporia, 

 Kansas. 



nv v. I,. KELLOOG. 



To the casual rondor, Kansas would not seem 

 to be a very inopitious place for cither Gulls, 

 Terns or Grebes. Mark Twain, in "Roueliing 

 It," mentions a lake in California. 100 miles from 



the sea-shore, where he is greatly astonished at 

 finding immense numbers of Gulls, and to ex- 

 press his astonishment, says that he would as soon 

 expert to tind them in Kan.sa.s. 



Yet at certain times of every year one ma}' sec 

 them here in abundance. I have observed at this 

 place two species of Gulls, tlic Ring-billed Gull 

 (Liinix ddewnromx) and Franklin's Rosy Gull 

 (Larim fmnliini), though other kinds have lieen 

 found in the State. This Spring, on April 30tli, 

 I saw large flocks of Franklin's Rosy and a few 

 Ring-billed, and flocks of both were seen fre- 

 quently during the ensuing month. 



I have found here two varieties of Terns, viz: 

 Fnrstcr's (Sterna forstcri), and the Black Tern 

 (Ilydiwluiidon lariformis surinamensis). I have 

 .seen but few Forster's, but the Black Terns are 

 abundant. In the Spring they arrive about the 

 first of May and stay until the end of the month. 

 In the Fall they are seen quite early; in 1884, the 

 first one being seen on August 19th. While here 

 they are to be found in large numbers flying 

 about in flocks over the water, feeding, and con- 

 tinually uttering a rather harsh and shrill cry. 

 Inu not very loud, however. 



Of Grebes I have taken two .species here, the 

 American Eared (Di/tes niijricolin califoniiciis) nnd 

 the Thick-billed (Padilymhus podicepn) and a 

 Single Horned Grebe (Bytes auritua) was .shot 

 here in 1882. The Eared are not very common 

 and are found in the Spring, while just the oppo- 

 .sito is true of the Thiek-billed, they being (piite 

 common and found in the Fall. Again, the Eared 

 are seen singly and the Thick-billed are found in 

 flocks of from five to thirty. They are very loth 

 to leave the water when alarmed, preferring to 

 trust to their diving abilities (which, it must be 

 .said, are of a high order,) rather than to their 

 power of wing. There is a specimen of the Great 

 Northern Diver (Colymbus torquatus) in the High 

 School collection at this place, which was taken 

 near town, but it is the only specimen of its kind 

 ever found here to my knowledge. 



Albinos. — A perfectly jmrc albino Petrochelidon 

 liinifroitR was seen to-day in possession of a tax- 

 idermist in this city. The bird was shot here a 

 day or two ago and sent to be mounted. Unfor- 

 tunately it was shot with coarse shot and some- 

 what multilated, but otherwise it is perfect, and 

 one can hardly hope to see a finer specimen. 



An albino Red-winged Blackbird, (Ayeliviin 

 phamicciis), has also been received here. The bird 

 is pure white with the exception of the red 

 patches on the wing, which arc normal, and a 

 very slight reddish tinge on the head. — A. W. 

 Anthony, Denver, Col. 



