14 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



subspecies of Owl have as yet been published, 

 and so hope that the present ones may prove to 

 be interesting. They would have been better 

 had I taken them of somewhat larger size, and 

 used a smaller " stop " for my lens. 



AVithin the past few months I have succeeded 

 in making some much more creditable bird pho- 

 tographs than these. For example, on the 26th 

 of August, 1895, my son collected for me at 

 Takoma Park, D. C, an unusually fine nest of 

 the Wood Pewee [Contopus virens). It was 

 built on a small horizontal branch of an oak 

 tree about twelve or fifteen feet above the 

 ground. Two young ones were in this nest — - 

 fully fledged and ready to fly — but both were 

 captured alive and not in the least injured. 

 The parent bird was likewise taken, so as to in- 

 sure certainty of identification, and in a few- 

 moments after capture was in my hands, to- 

 gether with the limb, nest, and both the young. 

 Preparations were at once made by me to pho-. 

 tograph them, and out of eight separate expo- 

 sures I obtained seven perfect plates, in each of 

 which the two birds are life-size, and are taken 

 either in or near the nest, which latter is also 

 shown. Selecting one of the best among these 

 various results I made prints from it, and find- 

 ing the picture so good I venture to offer it 

 here as a second illustration in the present con- 

 nection. It will be seen in it that one of the 

 birds remained in the nest, but that the other 

 preferred to perch close to it on a small branch 

 outside. The structure of the nest itself is 

 beautifully shown, as well as its attachment to 

 the limb. These birds were chloroformed and 

 preserved, and upon some future occasion it is 

 my intention to make a print from one of the 

 other negatives upon " platinum paper," and 

 color it accurately for reproduction upon stone. 

 The skins were saved for this purpose. 



Mr. William Palmer, of the United States 

 National Museum, has very recently collected a 

 number of living specimens of the Black Skim- 

 mer {Rhynchops nigra), and kindly allowed me 

 to make photographs of them. These stand 

 among the best 1 have ever obtained, and I hope 

 to have one of them appear in the Nidiologist 

 before very long. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Letter from Sylvan Lake, S. Dak. 



Editor Nidiologist. 



Dear Sir : I am obliged to Mr. E. S. Rolfe 

 for pointing out in the Nidiologist of this 

 month, page 10, the vexatious misprint in my 

 J^ey, ed. 1887, page 613, which makes the egg 

 of Wilson's Phalarope measure "1.90" broad. 

 This "'apparent impossibility," as he says, is of 

 course a typographical error for 0.90. This is 



the third or fourth time I have heard of it from 

 as many different users of the X^ey, and I will 

 see that it is set right in the next edition. 



I have meditated a new edition of the Key 

 for some years, but have been very busy with 

 other literary engagements ; and besides, I 

 thought best to wait awhile till the incessant 

 shifting of names should cease — or slacken at 

 any rate — so that I could tell what names were 

 likely to remain in fashion long enough to make 

 it worth while for the Key to conform to them. 

 The A. O. U. Committee on Nomenclature and 

 Classification, of which I have the honor to be 

 chairman, has passed upon all doubtful or dis- 

 puted cases thus far submitted to its decision, 

 and we are now rapidly printing the new Check 

 List of North American Birds, which will prob- 

 ably appear in a month or two. This willprac- 

 tically settle matters of nomenclature for the 

 next ten years. 



In view of the contemplated new edition of 

 the Key, which will conform closely to the Union 

 Check List in nomenclature, I would request 

 readers of the Nidiologist to favor me at early 

 convenience with corrections of any errors the 

 current edition may be found to contain. My 

 address is always, " Washington,- D. C." 



I find much to interest me Ornithologically 

 in the heart of the Black Hills of South Da- 

 kota, where I am seeking much-needed respite 

 from work and worry for a few weeks. Sylvan 

 Lake is a picturesque and romantic spot, six 

 miles from Custer City and three from Harney 

 Peak — the latter the most elevated point in these 

 Hills. The Blue Crow, or Maximilian's Jay 

 {Gyin/iokitta cxanocephala, or Cyanocephala cy- 

 anoccphala, if you prefer to be tautological in 

 the most approved style), is one of the common- 

 est birds. My attention has been particularly 

 attracted to the Junco, which breeds here, and 

 which will, perhaps, require to be named as a 

 new subspecies, Junco hyemalis danbyi, after 

 Mr. Durward E. Danby, Principal of the High 

 School in Custer. I remember handling skins 

 like this several years ago, but never before had 

 an opportunity of seeing the bird alive. The 

 difference from hyemalis is evident at gunshot 

 range. The impression is that of a large gray 

 rather than blackish bird, with the dark color 

 of the breast fading gradually into the white of 

 the belly. My specimens shot this month have ' 

 the gray of the back overcast with a brownish 

 wash; and some of them show an approach to 

 the characters of aikeni in having an imperfect 

 wingbar formed by the white tips of the greater 

 row of secondary coverts. The general color- 

 ation is rather that of caniceps than of hyemalis, 

 but there is no definite dorsal area of chestnut. 

 The bill is flesh-colored, more or less obscured 

 with dusky. The size is about 7.00x11.00. 



