78 



Notes and Nexvs. [^",|^ 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



As THESE pages go to press we are in receipt, through the kindness of 

 the publishers, of Miss Maria R. Audubon's 'Audubon and his Journals.'' 

 A hastj examination of these sumptuously printed volumes is sviificient 

 to show that Miss Audubon has presented us with a work of fascinating 

 interest to all ornithologists and bird-lovers, and one which must also 

 appeal strongly to the sympathies of the general reader. The story of 

 his romantic life, told briefly in the first volume, is of absorbing interest. 

 Following this are the European, Labrador, and Missovn-i River 'Journals,' 

 and the 'Episodes,' the latter for the first time collectively reprinted from 

 the first three volumes of the ' Ornithological Biographies.' The illus- 

 trations include a dozen portraits of Audubon, most of them heretofore 

 unpublished, and also portraits of his wife, and his sons, John and Victor. 

 There are also views of his mill in Kentucky and of his home mansions 

 in Pennsylvania, besides various camp scenes and previously unpublished 

 sketches of birds, including a pencil sketch of Townsend's Bunting. 

 The geographical and zoological annotations by Dr. Coues add further 

 interest to the work. 



The Audubon Society of the State of New York held a public meeting 

 in the large lecture hall of the American Museum of Natural History on 

 the afternoon of December 2. Addresses were made by Morris K. Jesup, 

 President of the Museum and of the Audubon Society; Henry S. 

 van Dyke and Frank M. Chapman, of the Society's Executive Committee ; 

 George L. Davis, representing the Superintendent of Schools of the 

 city ; and A. S. Bickmore of the Museum's Department of Public 

 Instruction. 



Mr. Jesup spoke of the Avork of the Society and its desire to create a 

 public sentiment against feather wearing which will result in the proper 

 enforcement of the laws protecting birds. Dr. van Dyke made a plea for 

 the birds as "messengers of beauty and good cheer," and referred to their 

 place in literature, concluding his eloquent address with the reading of 

 two original bird poems. Mr. Chapman presented statistics showing the 

 alarming extent to which the traffic in feathers has assumed, and urged, 

 as a means of protecting our birds from wanton destruction, that their 

 zesthetic and economic value be made a part of our cominon school 

 curriculum. Mr. Davis expressed the willingness of the Board of Educa- 

 tion to introduce bird-study in their course of instruction and dwelt upon 

 the elevating and humanizing influence of nature studies, while Pro- 



' Two vols. 8vo., illustrated. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 1897. 

 Price, $7.50 net. 



