The Record of 1910 



By T. S. PALMER 



THE year just closed has been marked by considerable activity in 

 various lines of ornithological work. New facts about rare or little- 

 known species have been published, field investigations have been 

 pushed into new regions, a new check list and several new state lists have 

 brought our knowledge of distribution down to date, and the protection 

 of birds has received much attention. 



Among the discoveries of the year, the finding of the eggs of the Gray- 

 crowned Leucosticte {Leucosticte tephrocotis tephrocotis) by Milton S. Ray 

 deserves special mention. Although the bird was described by Swainson, 

 nearly eighty years ago, and the color and size of its eggs could be sur- 

 mised from what we knew of related species, the eggs had never been 

 actually collected until the discovery of the nest on Pyramid Peak, Cal- 

 ifornia, at an altitude of nearly ten thousand feet, on June 22, igio. Of 

 scarcely less interest was the evidence collected by Job and McAtee regard- 

 ing the abundance of the Blue Goose {Chen carulescens) in southern Lou- 

 isiana, particularly in the Mississippi delta and in the region west of 

 Vermillion Bay. This fact, though known to local observers, was not 

 generally appreciated, and it is gratifying to learn that the Blue Goose, 

 usually considered one of the rarest of our Geese, is still found in flocks 

 of thousands in certain parts of its winter habitat. The year may fairly 

 be considered as marking the passing of the Passenger Pigeon. Special 

 efforts made under the direction of Prof. C. F. Hodge failed to bring to 

 light a single authentic nest of the bird, although the vigilance of the 

 observers was stimulated by the offer of a series of substantial rewards. 

 Moreover, the flock of captive pigeons in the Cincinnati Zoological Gar- 

 dens, which had been gradually decreasing in numbers, was reduced to a 

 single bird, a female eighteen years of age, by the death last June of its 

 mate, a male twenty-two years old. So far as known, this is the sole sur- 

 vivor of this species in the United States. 



The year has been noteworthy for field work in distant regions. The 

 Roosevelt Expedition has returned from British East Africa with a won- 

 derfully rich series of birds, which is now being worked up by Dr. E. A. 

 Mearns. A large collection of birds has also been received by the United 

 States National Museum from the Bryant Expedition to western Java, 

 where Mr. William Palmer has been collecting for a year and a half. The 

 The Stefansson-Anderson Expedition, despatched to Arctic America by 

 the American Museum in 1908, has recently sent back several hundred 

 bird skins and many nests and eggs. The American Museum Expedition 

 to eastern Mexico returned May i, with data and material collected by 

 Messrs. F. M. Chapman and L. A. Fuertes for a habitat group, represent- 



(8) 



