THE NIDIOIvOGIST 



29 



Britain, by Mr. A. W. Johnson of Upper 

 Lake, was read. 



Mr. W. Otto Kmerson was present as a 

 visitor. 



The report of a plan for club work was 

 presented by the committee, read and ac- 

 cepted. Many valuable suggestions were 

 embodied in it. A resolution was adopted 

 providing for the loan of publications be- 

 longing to the club, to members. The fol- 

 lowing publications are now in the library 

 of the club: "Life Histories of North 

 American Birds," by Capt. Chas. E. Ben- 

 dire; Smithsonian Report for 1092, contain- 

 ing the papers of Dr. Schufeldt on "Com- 

 parative Oology "and "Scientific Taxidermy 

 for Museums;" Death Valley Expedition; 

 North American Fauna, Nos. 3 and 5; 

 "The Hummingbirds," by Robt. Ridgway; 

 Bulletin No. 29 of the United States 

 National Museum; "The English Sparrow 

 in America;" "Bird Migration in the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley;" "Directions for Collect- 

 ing, Preparing and Preserving Birds' Eggs 

 and Nests;" "Contributions to the Natural 

 History of Kerguelan Island;" "Published 

 Writingsof Geo. N. Lawrence;" "Avifauna 

 Columbiana." For further particulars ad- 

 dress the Secretary, enclosing stamp. 



C. Barlow, Secretary. 



Santa Clara, Cal. 



We, Also, Take Exceptions. 



a 



w 



ILLIAM HENRY" was no doubt 

 justified in expressing his disap- 

 proval of the evidentl}' inaccurate 

 statement of a correspondent, in the July 

 number, that he had taken eggs from an 

 Owl's nest on a horizontal limb a hundred 

 and fifty feet from the ground, in a giant 

 sycamore in the Illinois River bottom. But 

 in doing so he has unfortunately made him- 

 self equally deserving of criticism, for he is 

 apparently either not familiar with the 

 tree-growth of Illinois, where best de- 

 veloped, or else has had little experience in 

 measuring large trees. He says "there is 

 not a sycamore tree in the State of Illinois 

 120 feet tall, " and that he sincerely doubts 

 "whether there is any tree in the State 

 (pines perhaps excepted) which is 140 feet 

 to the topmost branch," Both these state- 



ments I know to be erroneous, having, 

 during the past twenty-five years, made 

 hundreds of measurements, with a loo-foot 

 tape-line, of trees that had been felled in the 

 lower Wabash Valley. The average length 

 of eight sycamores which I measured (all 

 that I have been able to measure accurately) 

 was 145 J^ feet, the extremes being 129 and 

 168 feet. Possibly "William Henry" is 

 more familiar with California sycamores 

 than with those of the Mississippi Valley, 

 and imagines that the latter cannot possibly 

 be the larger. But, having made observa- 

 tions in both sections, I am sure the best 

 developed sycamores of California will not 

 compare in size with those of Illinois and 

 adjacent States. In fact, it is conceded by 

 those who have most studied the subject 

 that while the Pacific coast stands unrivalled 

 in the magnificent development of its conif- 

 erous trees, its deciduous trees are insignifi- 

 cant, both as to number of species and the 

 size of individual specimens, compared with 

 the lower Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, the 

 Southern Alleghenies, and some other por- 

 tions of the Atlantic water-shed. 



In doubting whether any species of tree 

 in Illinois reached a height of 140 feet pines 

 need not have been excepted, for pines grow 

 in only very limited sections of the State, 

 and nowhere reach their best development 

 within its boundaries! Nevertheless, not 

 only do sycamores sometimes reach a height 

 of 140 feet in Illinois, but more than a dozen 

 other species do also, as the tulip-tree, cot- 

 tonwood, sweet gum, black walnut, pecan 



and several of the oaks. 



Robert Ridgway. 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



F. K. Newbery, of Providence, R. I., writes: 

 "Have just added to my collection an elegant set 

 of II American Merganser, female captured on 

 nest, and a set of four Spragne's Pipit; also several 

 sets of Black-whiskered Vireo and Mangrove 

 Cuckoo. 



"I say 'rats!' " says L. Whitney AVatkins, of 

 Manchester, Mich. "I found this morning that 

 cats had entered my ornithological room and com- 

 pletely ruined a large number of skins left on my 

 study table, besides beheading several fine Duck 

 skins. 



