22 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 2 



United States and British North America 

 have been divided into Thirteen Districts, 

 to each of which a Superintendent has 

 been assigned. These Districts are : 



Alaska, Supt., John Murdock, Smithsonian Institute, 

 Washington, D. C. 



North-West Territories, Supt., Ernest E. T. Seton, Assin- 

 aboia via Carberry, Manitoba. 



Newfoundland, Supt., James P. Howley, St. Johns, New- 

 foundland. 



Mississippi Valley and Manitoba, Supt., Prof. W. W. 

 Cooke, Caddo, Indian Territory. 



Canada, Supt., Montague Chamberlain, St. John, New 

 Brunswick. 



New England, Supt., John H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 



Atlantic District, Supt., Dr. A. K. Fisher, Sing Sing, 

 New York. 



Middle-Eastern District, Supt., Dr. J. M. Wheaton, Co- 

 lumbus, Ohio. 



Rocky Mountain District, Supt.. Dr. Edgar A. Mearns. 



Pacific District, Supt., L. Belding, Stockton, California. 

 Also British Columbia and Atlantic Seaboard, for which no 

 Superintendents have yet been appointed. 



The Committee earnestly request that 

 all who are willing to aid in the work, will 

 immediately communicate with the Super- 

 intendents of their respective Districts. 

 Those residing in Districts whose Super- 

 intendents have not yet been named, may 

 address the Chairman, Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, Locust Grove, Lewis County, 

 New York. 



What is an Albino ? I am disposed to 

 ask the above question from certain letters 

 (three or four) which have lately appeared 

 in the newspapers calling "White Pheasants 

 Albinos. Some time ago I had an argu- 

 ment with an eminent naturalist, in a 

 sporting paper, who questioned the fact of 

 a White Pheasant being a distiuct variety, 

 because we could not point out its habitat 

 in foreign parts, Pheasants not being in- 

 digenous to this country. My reply was, 

 that though we could not point out the 

 where, the when, or the how it became a 

 distinct variety, we can nevertheless prove 

 conclusively that it is not an Albino, and if 

 not an Albino, what else can you call it 

 but a variety"? What, then, are the 

 characteristics of an Albino ? It is an an- 

 imal which drops the invariable or uniform 

 color of its race and becomes colorless, 

 with the peculiarity of pink eyes ; and as 



such occurrences are very rare, they are 

 called by scientific naturalists " freaks of 

 nature," and that is all the light they can 

 throw on the matter. I have for long had 

 a notion that if we knew more about the 

 cause or origin of Albinos, it would ex- 

 plain much that puzzles us regarding the 

 varities of color which we find in different 

 species. On the subject of varieties, let me 

 propound a jjuzzle for scientific natural- 

 ists to explain. I believe in this country 

 there is not such a thing as a White 

 Roedeer. At least I only know of one in- 

 stance, and it was a female, got in our 

 coverts here many years ago, and I have 

 it stuffed. It was, of course, an Albino, 

 with pink eyes. I shall feel much obliged 

 if any of your readers can point out 

 another instance of White Roes having 

 been seen wild in this country. But I am 

 told that there is a variety of White 

 Roedeer common in Germany, so we could 

 easily introduce them here if we pleased. 

 A White Roe is thus an Albino in this 

 country and a distinct variety in Germany. 

 — TV. C. {Dunbartonshire) in " Land and 

 Water" 



Brief Notes.' 



The Fox Sparrow, (Passerella iliaca,) 

 is so early a bird in Spring and so late in 

 its Autumn migration that its occurrence 

 in New England in Winter is nothing very 

 strange, yet in view of the fact that the 

 latest work on New England ornithology, 

 Cones and Stearns, says that we have no 

 information of the bird in Winter within 

 our limits, it maj r interest the readers of 

 the O. and O. to know that I took a speci- 

 men in Bridgeport, Conn., on the 29th of 

 last December. The week preceding had 

 been notable for low temperature and 

 deep snow ; but this day was mild and 

 pleasant, and a warm south wind induced 

 me to explore a patch of red cedar trees 

 by the bank of a salt creek. It was here I 

 shot the bird, which on dissection proved 



