3o6 



Notes a?id News. [July 



— Volume I of the 'Water Birds of North America,' bj Baird, Brewer, 

 and Ridgvvaj, has ah-eadj appeared, and Volume II, completing this val- 

 uable work, will be published in September. The first volume, beginning 

 with the Herons, carries the subject through the Herodiones, Limicolse, 

 Alectorides, and Phoenicopteri, and into the Anseres as far as the genus 

 ^iierquediila^ and contains 537 pages, 135 illustrations of heads, and 

 6S full-length figures. It is issued in two editions, the one with the 

 figures plain, the other with the figures hand-colored. Little, Brown & 

 Co., Boston, are the publishers. 



— At the last meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, held in 

 Washington, April 15-18, Dr. Coues addressed the Academy in scientific 

 session on the application of trinomial nomenclature to zoology, basing 

 his remai'ks upon the uniform practise of American ornithologists in this 

 matter, and arguing for the expediency of the general adoption of trino- 

 mials in zoology upon the definite principles already recognized and 

 acted upon by the 'American School' of ornithologists. Dr. Coues also 

 introduced a resolution in business meeting of the Academy, that a com- 

 mittee be appointed to consider the subject of zoological nomenclature, 

 with reference to the establishment of a more uniform system. The res- 

 olution was seconded by Professor Gill, and referred to the Council of 

 the Academy, whose action will be awaited with interest by all our orni- 

 thologists. 



— We have received from A. Bogardus & Co., New York, a panel pho- 

 tograph, ten inches by twelve, of the founders and officers of the A. O. U. 

 The group as a whole is very satisfactory, most of the figures being ex- 

 cellent. 



— Dr. Elliott Coues sailed for England on May 24, where he will spend 

 several months, partly for purposes of research and partly for recreation. 



— Wilson Flagg, well-known as the genial author of 'The Birds and 

 Seasons of New England,' 'The Field and Foi-est,' 'The Woods and By- 

 WaysofNew England,' etc., and a keen and appreciative observer of 

 nature, died in Cambridge, Mass., May 5, in his eightieth year, after a 

 long and painful illness. Mr. Flagg received his education at the Ando- 

 ver Phillips Academy and Harvard College, and for many j^ears was an 

 occasional contributor to the 'Atlantic' and other magazines, where his 

 essays on natural history subjects, afterwards gathered in the books above- 

 named, originally appeared. 



— Edgar A. Small, of Hagarstown, Md., an Associate Member of the 

 A. O. U., died at that place April 24, 1884, in the twentieth year of his age. 

 Mr. Small, although for some years a sufierer from spinal disease, result- 

 ing fi-om an accident, was widely known as a young ornithologist of much 

 proinise. 



— Henry G. Vennor, of Montreal, died in that city June 8, 1884, at the 

 age of 44. Mr. Vennor was an Associate Member of the A. O. U., and 

 well-known as one of the leading ornithologists of Canada. Besides various 



