i^EiiAWARE VALLEr ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 7 



during his stay at Henderson. The first is a hawk — '^ Milvus 

 Imcomelas,'^ which he characterizes as— " White, unspotted, top 

 of head, part of back, wings, tail and bill black, feet yellow. It 

 is found in West Kentucky and Illinois, it feeds on fishes and 

 is therefore called fishing hawk ; size small, tail quite forked." 

 This is, of course, a conglomeration of the colors of the Swallow- 

 tailed Kite, the habits of the Osprey and the size of the King- 

 fisher, described from memory of some fairy tale of an Ohio boat- 

 man, or by Audubon himself, though that naturalist is not made 

 responsible for it. The next species is a brown heron of the 

 Ohio Valley, eighteen inches long, ^* Ardea phaioma.^' For the 

 next one, " Charadrius viridis," Audubon has to stand godfather. 

 I quote the description in full : ' ' Entirely of a light green, un- 

 spotted, wings and tail tinged with brown, bill and feet black. 

 It has been seen by Mr. Audubon in Missouri near St. Geni- 

 vieve. It is a solitary and very wild Bird, size of the small 

 common Plover [Killdeer]. Is it a Fulica?" [Coot]. This 

 description exhibits a most surprising credulity as well as igno- 

 rance of ornithology in the author, but his mode of introducing 

 to us the last one of his new Kentucky birds, the Scarlet-headed 

 Swallow, caps the climax. It reads : ^^Hirundo phenicephala. 

 Head scarlet, back gray, belly white, bill and feet black. A fine 

 and rare swallow seen only once by Mr. Audubon near Hender- 

 son, Kentucky, it must have been a wanderer and is probably 

 a native of Louisiana or Mexico." ^ 



This brings us to a consideration of Rafinesque's relations 

 with Audubon, which have been so often discussed by later 

 naturalists as being greatly to the discredit of the famous authr)r 

 of the ''Birds of America." I have carefully gone over the 

 matter and in the light of facts, not considered or known to 

 these critics, conclude they have been entirely too hard on 

 Audubon. It is evident that these two men greatly enjoyed a 

 joke, the only difference being that Audubon's jokes were of the 

 more practical kind and Rafinesque always gave way to his in- 

 ordinate desire to describe anything which struck him as a 

 novelty. Witness how complacently he accepts the joke put 



'See Cassin re this species in the Appx. to his Birds of Calif., Texas, etc. 

 Phila., 1866. 



