THE OOLOGIST. 



81 



Birds of lov^a. 



I'Ue Aciuloiuy of NaluiHl Scieuces, of 

 Davenport, Iowa,' 1ms reeently issued iu 

 volume V of its proceed iiiij;, au annotated 

 eatalogue of the birds of Iowa, by Charles 

 n. Keyes and II. A. Williams. M. D. This 

 is a welcome cojitribntiou to the ari-fau.nn 

 of the U])per iMississipi valley; and those 

 interested in ornilholot.'y, especially Iowa 

 stiidents, will be delighted to.]iernse the 

 pages of this nnirh needed publication. 

 About 270 si")eci( s r)f birds are enumerated, 

 but as stated in the introdiietory the list 

 makes no pretension to completeness. It is 

 to be remenibered, however, that no species 

 are entered upon "authority;"' every entrj^ 

 having an authentic material basis in the 

 cabinets of the authors. The latter fact is 

 indeed signilicant; and it would be well for 

 all tho.se contemplating the prepaTution of 

 a work of this kind to bear this considera- 

 tion in mind: that it is far more preferable 

 and iutiuitely more valuable, to have a 

 faunal catalogue of any region, however 

 limited, based upon authentic ' specimens, 

 rather than to include also species "said" 

 to have been observed, even though the 

 latter may, and all probability do, occur in 

 that particular region. In-^ihe former 

 instance, even thougli the list may not be 

 as full as desirable, it is always important 

 for reference: while in the latter case, all 

 included " })robable occurrences '' tends to 

 cast shadows of suspicion as to the accuracy 

 of tlie whole enumeration. This importaiit 

 feature of having a material basis for the 

 Iowa list, coupled with the then I'ing 

 familiarity with Iowa's ari-fiiviiii- and the 

 conscientious accmacy of tlie authors, 

 make the Annotated Catalogue of Ihe Birds 

 of Iowa especially ^';duable to working 

 ornithologist . 



The anthf)is of the list liine even goiie 

 f trtlier— thanks to their generosity and 

 thought fulness for less favored workers — 

 and issued reprints: 50 pages neatly inclosed 

 iu covers. Copies may lie had cm applica- 

 tion to the senior author, whose address is 

 Des Moines, Iowa. 



Brewster's Linnet. 



Editor OoloCtIst: Perhaps it will be of 

 interest to yom- many readers to learn that 

 on March 20th 1888, Jesse Craven, while 

 collecting redpolls shot a Brewster Linnet, 

 the same being in company with the red- 

 polls, ill the vicinity of the town of Sweden, 

 near the line between Orleans and Monroe 

 C(mnty, the sjjecirnen being a female answer 

 ing' in description correctly according to 

 Kidgways Birds of N. A., which is as follows: 

 al>ove olive brownish, streaked with dusky, 

 the rump tinged with pale suli^hiu- yellow 

 beneath whitish, tinged with dull butfy or 

 pale fulvous on chest, the sides and lower 

 tail coverts streaked with dusky, wings with 

 two pale fulvous bands across coverts, quills 

 and tail feathers narrowly edged with pale 

 sulphur yellow, length 5.5 wing 2.75; tail, 

 '2.25, these measurements are as nearly 

 right as I could get them from the skin, as 

 I did not see the bird before it was skined, 

 the skin is now in his collection. I believe 

 the latest record of this bird to te in 1870. 

 if any one has a later record we should like 

 to hear from them through the Oologist. 



V. C. L., Hollev N. Y. 



Am. Long-eared Owl. 



This decidedly nocturnal bird is quite 

 pleiitd'ul in this locality, where it arrives 

 from the south about the middle of Fcb- 

 luary. Its favoiite haunts are dark swampy 

 woods; especially tamarac swamps. Out 

 of these retreats il is seldom if ever seen 

 dnring thehght of the day. 



On account of its retiring habits, I have 

 had but few opportunities to observe its 

 movements. All I can say is that about 

 the middle of A^jril 5 to 7 eggs may be 

 found averaging about 1.65 by 1 .34 and as 

 is the case of nearly all Owls' eggs, white. 

 This sj^ecii s geneially constructs its own nest ; 

 but a deserted scprirrel's or woodmouse's is 

 .often occupied. Although its f(Vod consists 

 principally of mice, scpiirrels etc., it makes 

 sad havoc among the young warblers and 

 other nestlings of the neighborhood. 



.) . C W., Jr., Detroit, Mich. 



