950 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 312. 



and Eobert Ridgway are ex-officio members 

 of the Council. 



One honorary, two corresponding and 

 seventy associate members were elected. 



A change in the by-laws was proposed 

 whereby the present class of active mem- 

 bers shall be known as fellows ; the present 

 class of associate members to be known as 

 associates, and to establish a class of mem- 

 bership intermediate between fellows and 

 associates, to be known as members. The 

 matter will be brought up for final action 

 at the next Congress of the Union. 



Miss Juliette A. Owen, of St. Joseph, 

 Mo., an associate member, who so kindly 

 remembered the Union at the last Congress, 

 sent an additional $100 this year. This 

 will be added to a fund, the income of 

 which is to be used for the advancement of 

 the science of ornithology. 



An address in commemoration of Dr. 

 Elliott Cones, a distinguished member, and 

 a former president of the Union, who died 

 since the last Congress, was delivered by 

 Professor D. G. Elliot. Dr. Cones be- 

 came eminent in science, and did more 

 perhaps than any other person to stimu- 

 late in young people an interest in birds. 

 Dr. J. A. Allen presented a memorial ad- 

 dress on the Hon. Geo. B. Sennett, an ac- 

 tive member of the Union, who died dur- 

 ing the past year. Mr. Sennett, although 

 deeply engrossed in business, never lost his 

 taste for ornithology. His writings relate 

 mainly to the birds of Texas. 



The report of the Committee on Protec- 

 tion of North American Birds, read by its 

 Chairman, Mr. Witmer Stone, showed that 

 satisfactory results had been obtained dur- 

 ing the past year. One important feature 

 was the protection of the gulls and terns 

 along the coast, made possible by money 

 secured through the efforts of Mr. Abbott 

 H. Thayer. Mr. William Dutcher, who had 

 special charge of this phase of the work, 

 made a supplementary report, giving in de- 



tail the localities where the birds were 

 found and eventually saved. These reports 

 will be published in The Auk, and reprinted 

 as a separate pamphlet, to be sold at a very 

 low price for general distribution. 



Judge John N. Clark's ' Dooryard Orni- 

 thology ' was a popular and well presented 

 paper. Mr. Clark lives in Saybrook, Conn., 

 and in the restricted area about his house 

 he has noted the occurrence of more than 

 one hundred species of birds. 



From letters written to the late Spencer 

 F. Baird, Mr. Witmer Stone was able to ob- 

 tain, by courtesy of Miss Lucy H. Baird, 

 interesting facts about many of the older 

 ornithologists. These he embodied in an 

 important historical paper called ' The 

 ' American Ornithologists' Union ' of 1840- 

 45.' It is difiBcult to realize at the present 

 time the discomforts and disadvantages that 

 confronted workers in any science sixty 

 years ago. 



Two afternoons were devoted to papers 

 illustrated by lantern slides — all showing 

 what an aid photography now is to the 

 study of the habits of birds. 



Following is a list of the papers read at 

 the sessions in addition to those already 

 mentioned : 



' The Sequence of Moults and Plumages of the 

 Laridse (Gulls and Terns)': Jonathan Dwight, Jb. 



'A Study of the Genus Sturnella': Fbank M. 

 Chapman. 



' The Pterylosis of Podargus ; with Further Notes 

 on the Pterylography of the Caprimulgidas ' : Hubert 

 Lyman Clark. 



' The Moult of the North American Shore Birds 

 (Limicolse)': Jonathan Dwight, Je. 



' Nesting of the Yellow-headed Blackbird.' Illus- 

 trated by lantern slides : Thomas S. Eobkkts. 



'Among the Terns at Muskeget, and on the New 

 Jersey Coast.' Illustrated by lantern slides : Wm. 

 L. Baily. 



' The Season of 1900 at the Magdalen Islands ; with 

 remarks on bird photography.' Illustrated by lan- 

 tern slides : Heebeet K. Job. 



' Field Notes on a few New England Birds.' Illus- 

 trated by lantern slides : William Beewstee. 



