2o8 Notes and Ncivs. [April 



Even at this earlj date the Committee has received formal returns from 

 Newfoundland, and from a large number of Stations in the United States. 



Through the courtesy of the Hon. Wm. Smith, Deputy Minister of 

 Marine and Fisheries of Canada, and of Commander Henry F. Pickering, 

 U. S. N., Secretary of the Lighthouse Board of the United States, the 

 Committee has secured the cooperation of these departments, which, it 

 is hardly necessary to add, is indispensable to the success of the under- 

 taking. The Department of Marine and Fisheries and the Lighthouse 

 Board have distributed over one thousand sets of blank schedules* and 

 circulars to the Lighthouses, Lightships, and Beacons of the United 

 States and British North America. 



The Committee has thus far been unable to find a Superintendent for 

 the Lighthouse Division, which consequently remains in charge of the 

 Chairman. 



— The circular issued by the A. O. U. Committee on the eligibility or 

 ineligibility of the European House Sparrow (^Passer domesticus) in Amer- 

 ica calls for information in respect to the economic relations of this bird 

 to agriculture and horticulture. The circular presents a series of twenty- 

 eight questions, to which the Committee desires explicit answers from 

 those who may be willing and able to aid it by statements of facts 

 derived from their own investigations or experience. A digest of 

 the statements received will be presented in their report to the Union at 

 its next annual meeting. The circulars may be obtained from, and 

 returned to, either Dr. J. B. Holder, Chairman of the Committee, New 

 York; Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell, New York; Mr. H. A. Purdie, Boston, 

 Mass. ; Mr. Nathan Cliiford Brown, Portland, Me. ; or Mi". Montague 

 Chamberlain, St. John, N. B. 



— The 'First International Ornithological Congress,' under the pat- 

 ronage of his Royal Highness, Archduke Rudolf, will be held in Vienna; 

 April 7 to 14, 1884. Three special subjects have been announced for 

 consideration, viz: (i) an international bird-protection law; (2) the 

 derivation of the domestic fowl, and the rearing and propagation of 

 poultry in general ; (3) the establishment of a network of ornithological 

 observation stations throughout the world. 



— In consequence of unavoidable delays the vignette for the cover of 

 'The Auk' was not prepared in time for use in the January number. The 

 figure of the Great Auk {AIca impennis) now presented is reduced (with 

 permission) from the plate of this species in Mr. Cory's 'Beautiful and 

 Curious Birds of the World.' 



* Through the kindness of Prof. S. F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu 

 tion, these schedules have been furnished to the Committee free of charge. 



