122 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 10 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OP 



BIRDS, 



THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THE INTERCHANGE OF NOTES 

 AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTUCKET, E. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



Dr. Elliott Cones has returned from his 

 visit to Europe. He reports having had a 

 pleasant and successful trip. 



Among the prominent scientists who 

 have crossed the Atlantic this year to at- 

 tend the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion at Montreal, is Dr. P. L. Schlater, 

 Secretary of the London Zoological So- 

 ciety, and for many years editor of the 

 Ornithological Journal, the Ibis. 



An inquiry in our August number re- 

 specting the^nest of the Chewink has elic- 

 ited a number of replies from which it ap- 

 pears safe to come to the conclusion of 

 Mr. D. E. Lantz, (page 127) that while 

 the early nests are almost invariably on 

 the ground, the second nests are as com- 

 monly in low bushes. This probably arises 

 from the thickening of the foliage as the 

 Slimmer advances. 



A correspondent asks us whether we 

 cannot stir up some of the old contribu- 

 tors to the O. and O. whose contributions 

 used so frequently to find a place in its 

 columns. He thinks we should also have 

 " a paper now and then" from a well known 

 Pacific coast collector, "on the wonderful 

 collecting tours he has made in California, 



South, North and East ; from the moun- 

 tains of Nevada to the lakes, rivers and 

 plains of Oregon and Washington Terri- 

 tory." We can only say it will be a pleas- 

 ure to us to insert such communications. 



One of the most complete Ornithologi- 

 cal collections in the world is that made 

 by the late Greene Smith of Peterboro, N. 

 Y. Among the Hummingbirds are speci- 

 mens said to be in no other collection in 

 the world. This portion alone is valued 

 at $75,000. The whole was offered to 

 New York City four years ago and refused 

 by the Park Commissioners in their igno- 

 rance of its value. Now they are anxious 

 to have it and the family decline to give it 

 up to them. 



Sickle-billed Thrush, or California 

 Thrasher. 



Ilarporhynchus redivivus (Gamb.) 



I first saw this bird in the coast range of 

 mountains back of Menlo Park, California, 

 in August and September of 1880. It was 

 quite abundant and I shot several, but all 

 were in poor plumage at that time. It was 

 only to be seen in the dense undergrowth 

 that fringed the banks of the streams a 

 few miles south of San Francisco. Mr. In- 

 gersoll says in his work " Nests and Eggs 

 of North American Birds," page 29, " The 

 music of this bird is confined to the coast 

 region of Southern California where it re- 

 sides the year round." But its range ex- 

 tends as far north as Menlo Park on San 

 Francisco Bay and perhaps farther. I be- 

 lieve it is confined to the coast range, as I 

 have never seen it in the Sierra Nevada or 

 the central part of the State, and Mr. Em- 

 erson of Haywards informs me that it is 

 not found on the eastern side of the same 

 bay. In my opinion this bird is resident 

 for a considerable part of the year in the 

 neighborhood of San Jose, for on my sec- 

 ond visit to California in May, 1881, when 

 within a few miles of the city, I saw a num- 

 ber and had the good fortune to find one 



