202 



THE OOLOGIST 



A College Bird Course. 



This year Waynesburg College has 

 instituted a course in Ornithology, 

 under my direction, with a large class 

 enrolled. The course comes under the 

 department of biology and gives three 

 nours credit throughout the school 

 year. It has as its chief aim the iden- 

 tification of our native birds. We have 

 one laboratory period, one lecture per- 

 iod, and one trip to the field each 

 week. 



The laboratory work consists in the 

 examination of bird skins and mounted 

 specimens and the filling in note books 

 the following outline: 



1. Name of Bird. State sex as 

 shown by the signs J 1 male; 5 female. 

 Also state briefly the color differences 

 in male and female if any. 



2. Give the order under which the 

 species comes; also the family. 



3. Give Geographical Range. 



4. Description: (a) Colors of parts, 

 (b) Measurements: 



(1) From tip of bill to tip of tail. 



(2) Length of bill. 



(3) Length of tail. 

 (4) Length of wing. 



5. General Haunts. 



6. Description of nest and eggs. 



7. Food and Economic Importance. 

 (Full notes here). 



8. Remarks. 



(1) Times of Migration in this 

 Region. 



(2) Is the Species Resident, Sum- 

 mer Resident, Transient vis- 

 itor ,or Straggler in this Re- 

 gion? 



(3) Does the Species nest com- 

 monly or rarely in this region? 



(4) How are the legs and feet ar- 

 ranged? Describe them brief- 

 ly. 



9. Make a careful drawing of the 

 bill. 



As a text we use Chapman's Bird 

 Life, a splendid work for the class 



room, published by D. Appleton and 

 Company. Some attention is given to 

 Morphology and Taxonomy but less 

 stress is placed upon these depart- 

 ments than on others. During field 

 trips the students record each species 

 observed and look it up in their text 

 books after returning home. The stu- 

 dents seem to be greatly interested 

 in the subject and feel that a knowl- 

 edge of our birds is not amiss in their 

 college course. Teachers and others 

 interested in bird courses are earnest- 

 ly requested to write me concerning 

 the work done at Waynesburg College 

 — address, Biological Laboratory. 



Books Received. 



BULLETIN, DEPARTMENT OF AG- 

 RICULTURE NO. 128: DISTRIBU- 

 TION AND MIGRATION OF NORTH 

 AMERICAN RAILS AND THEIR AL- 

 LIES. 



This is a very well prepared paper 

 by Wells W. Cooke, though there are 

 some omissions. It takes up each of 

 the several species and gives their 

 winter, summer and breeding ranges, 

 platted on skeleton maps of North 

 America, an extremely good idea. 



One of the late and interesting rec- 

 ords of the Whooping Crane which 

 seems to have been overlooked is that 

 made by John F. Ferry at Quill Lake, 

 Saskatchewan in the summer of 1907. 

 And a like omission is noted in regard 

 to the Yellow Rail. 



REPORT OF THE ILLINOIS 

 STATE MUSEUM OF NATURAL 

 HISTORY FOR 1911-1912. 



This is a very well prepared annual 

 report of this institution, that portion 

 of the same particularly interesting 

 to the ornithologist, being a list of 

 the birds and eggs now lodged in the 

 Museum. 



Another Doubtful Geographical Race. 



The ceaseless search for sub-specific 



