THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 

 The registeied membership of the Society on 

 Aug. 31 was 38,981, showing an increase during 

 the month of 1,527, drawn from the following .States 

 and Territories: 



New York 429 



Vermont 6 



New Hampshire 17 



Pennsylvania 92 



Massachusetts 216 



New Jersey 23 



Maine 50 



Rhode Island 4 



Connecticut 49 



Ohio 45 



Kansas 22 



Michigan 6 



Minnesota 3 



California 3 



District of Columbia 16 



Indiana 8 



North Carolina 20 



Maryland 9 



Virginia 46 



Georgia 93 



Wisconsin. 



22 West Virginia 5 



Iowa 231 



Illinois 10 



Mississippi i 



Missouri i 



Kentucky 7 



Nebraska 3 



South Carolina i 



Florida 3 



Tennessee 12 



Canada 46 



England 48 



France i 



1.527 



C. F. Amery, General Secretary. 



AS BAD AS ENGLISH SPARROWS. 



Early last spring I bought a pair of Baltimore 

 orioles and put them into an aviary containing a va- 

 riety of birds — waxbills, weaverbirds, silverbeaks, 

 and others. The cage or aviary was a space about 

 14 ft. long, by 12 ft. wide and 10 ft. high, partitioned 

 off in a large room by a wire screen. Within it I 

 had placed an old dead plum tree, and a few roots, 

 stumps, etc., for the birds to perch on. After put- 

 ting in the two orioles, I left them until the next 

 morning. The first thing I noticed on entering was 

 a dead waxbill on the floor. On examination I found 

 both its eyes gone and a small hole in its head. 

 Believing the bird had died a natural death (it was 

 over six years in my possession, and they seldom 

 live longer than that) I thought no more of the mat- 

 ter. Its wounds I thought had been inflicted after 

 death. The next morning some boys brought me a 

 common house wren, with a crippled wing, saying 

 they had found it on the street, and I put it in with 

 the other birds. That same afternoon a lady friepd 

 told me there was a dead bird in the cage. On pick- 

 ing it up it proved to be the poor little wren with 

 both its eyes picked out. I was positive it had not 

 died a natural death, as I had been watching it eat 

 not half an hour before. After thinking the matter 

 over for some time, I concluded to watch and see 

 who was doing the mischief. Getting behind a cur- 

 tain on the opposite side of the room from where the 

 cage was, I sat down and waited. For over an hour 



everj'thing seemed to be going on smoothly, and I 

 was just concluding to give up my vigil, when I 

 heard a great fluttering. Stepping out from behind 

 the curtain I saw the male oriole chasing a small 

 African zebra finch around the cage. So intent was 

 he on seizing his prey that he paid no attention to 

 me whatever, although I struck the wire quite smartly 

 with a light cane I had in my hand. Before I had 

 time to enter the cage, he had the poor little thing 

 in a corner with his sharp bill buried in its head. Of 

 course I immediately took the orioles out and put 

 them in another large cage with a lot of catbirds, 

 thrushes, Japanese robins, etc. , and there they are yet. 

 Although continually quarreling with the other birds 

 over the food, they are too cowardly to show open 

 fight. C. T. Metzger. 



EFFECT OF THE ECLIPSE ON BIRDS. 



Although the scientific results of the observation 

 of the solar eclipse in the neighborhood of Berlin 

 are insignificant, some interesting reports are given 

 by a correspondent of the effects upon the lower 

 animals of the untimely obscuration of the sun. For- 

 esters state that the birds, which had already begun 

 to sing before the eclipse took place, became of a 

 sudden quite silent, and showed signs of disquiet 

 when darkness set in. Herds of deer ran about in 

 alarm, as did the small four-footed game. In Ber- 

 lin a sicentific man arranged for observations to be 

 made by bird dealers of the conduct of their feathered 

 stock, and the results are found to deviate consider- 

 ably. In some cases the birds showed sudden sleepi- 

 ness, even though they had sung before the eclipse 

 took place. In other cases great uneasiness and 

 fright were observed. It is noticeable that parrots 

 showed far more susceptibility than the canaries, be- 

 coming very silent during the eclipse, and only re- 

 turning very slowly to their usual state. — London 

 Globe. 



THE AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION. 



This society will hold its eleventh annual conven- 

 tion at Rochester, N. Y., on October 19, 20 and 21, 

 and delegates from the Audubon .Society are invited 

 to be present. We shall be very glad to receive 

 communications from any of our local secretaries 

 desirous of representing the Society at the conven- 

 tion. The Rochester .Society will do all in its power 

 for the entertainment of visitors. The headquarters 

 of the .Society will be Powers' Hotel, terms $3 a day, 

 but timely notice being given, an effort will be made 

 to secure a reduction of rates and also of railway 

 fares. 



