4o THE NIDOLOGIST 
Meeting of the A. O. U. in Wash= 
ington. 
HE Thirteenth Congress of the American 
Ornithologists’ Union met in Washing- 
ton, D. C., on November 12. An aver- 
age of fifty Ornithologists attended the sessions, 
which were held in the lecture hall of the 
United States National Museum for three days, 
between the hours of rr A.M. and4p.mM. A 
lunch was provided each day in the convenient 
café in the Museum building by the Union. 
‘The following papers were read and discussed: 
“An Important Factor in the Study of Western 
Bird Life,’ Carl F. Baker; “The First Plum- 
age of the Philadelphia Vireo,” Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr.; “On Pallas Cormorant,” F. A. 
Lucas; “Further Remarks on the Subgenus 
Quiscalus,’ Frank M. Chapman; “ Midwinter 
Migration Southward in the North Temperate 
Zone to Breeding Grounds,” Leverett M. Loo- 
mis; “The Terns of Muskeget Island, Part II,” 
George H. Mackay; “Food of the Meadow- 
lark, EB. EB. 1 Beal; An’ Instance of’ Indi= 
vidual Dichromatism in the Screech Owl,” A. P. 
Chadbourne; “The Pine Grosbeak in Captiv- 
ity,’ O. W. Knight; “ What Constitutes Publi- 
cation?”’ J. A. Allen; “ Kingbirds and Sap- 
suckers of Southern California,’ A. J. Cook; 
“Methods in Economic Ornithology, With 
Special Reference to the Catbird,” Sylvester D. 
Judd; “A Few Effects of the Winter of 1895 
upon the Spring and Fall Migration in Canton, 
Mass.,” J. H. Bowles; “‘ Birds of Idaho,” M. J. 
Elrod; “On the Standing of Ardetta neocena,” 
Frank M. Chapman; “ A Critique on Trinomial 
Inconsistencies,’ William Palmer; ‘‘ Why Are 
There So Few Bluebirds?” Mrs. Louisa M. 
Stephenson; “ On Gitke’s Heligoland,’’ George 
H. Mackay; “The Value of the Tongue in the 
Classification of Birds,” F. A. Lucas. 
Considerable interest was taken in the exhi- 
bition of unpublished water color paintings of 
birds, by Louis A. Fuertes, with remarks by Dr. 
Elliott Coues. The work of young Fuertes, 
who is a student at Cornell, shows undoubted 
marks of genius, and was compared to that of 
the Audubonian period. The exhibition of 
lantern slides of birds, by William Palmer, was 
very instructive and pleasing. 
On Tuesday evening, November 12, a large 
audience listened to a memorial address on the 
late George N. Lawrence, by D. G. Elliot, and 
a memorial address on the late Thomas H. Hux- 
ley, by Elhott Coues. 
The officers elected by the Union for the en- 
suing year were as follows: President, William 
Brewster; Vice Presidents, Robert Ridgway and 
C. Hart Merriam; Secretary, John H. Sage; 
Treasurer, William Dutcher. 
A. W. Anthony, of San Diego, Cal., was 
elected to active membership. An amendment 
to the constitution was proposed, to be acted 
upon at the next Congress, increasing the maxi- 
mum limit of active membership to seventy-five, 
with the proviso that not more than five new 
members be-elected each year. The invitation 
of the Nuttall Ornithological Club to have the 
next Congress of the Union in Cambridge, 
Mass., was accepted, and the time set for the 
second Tuesday following the first Monday in 
November, 1896. 
PEN-SLIPS BY THE WaAy. 
The Bluebird is not so nearly wiped out as 
was thought. 
Mr. Loomis came from California to attend 
the Congress. 
Mr. Sennett left early to proceed to the At- 
lanta Exposition. 
The big United States National Museum 
should provide a better workshop for its chief 
taxidermist, William Palmer. 
Those in attendance were photographed on 
the steps of the National Museum by Mr. 
Prince. This is the first group picture ever 
taken of the Union. It is reproduced on the 
opposite page. 
Quite a number of ladies attended the Con- 
gress. Miss Florence Merriam and Mrs. Olive 
Thorne Miller hardly missed a paper. Miss 
Tessa Kelso, formerly of Los Angeles, Cal., was 
an interested listener. 
A new museum is needed to accommodate 
the National collections. It is just as bad in the 
Smithsonian Institution. Space is at a premium 
in the Ornithological department. Over twenty 
thousand bird skins are stored in the basement, 
along with alcoholics. 
Professor Lucas says that Pallas Cormorant, 
which got itself extinct because it had hardly 
any wings at all—or didn’t use them—us really 
much rarer than the Great Auk, there being 
but four specimens in museums. It was of 
great size, being the largest of the Cormorants. 
Major Bendire’s rooms were the center of at- 
traction for Odlogists. He kindly explained to 
me the intricate process of making the wonder- 
fully faithful colored plates which give such 
value to his Zzfe Histortes. Most of the plates 
require seventecn separate printings to get the 
reproduction required. 
Portland, Ore., has an ambitious society for 
the introduction of exotic song birds, such as the 
Skylark, Nightingale, etc. They have spent 
$3,000 on their undertaking. Dr. T. S. Pal- 
mer and Dr. C. Hart Merriam think there is 
some danger, in the thoughtless introduction of 
foreign species, of discovering another such 
pest as the English Sparrow. 
