THE OOLOGIST 



l5l 



ing Birds, Song and Chipping Spar- 

 rows are common about the yards and 

 streets. 



Gerard Alan Abbott, 

 Lancaster, Kentucky. 



NEW PRICE VALUES, AGAIN 



Young Homer has really nodded, at 

 last! In the September issue of The 

 Oologist, Mr. Bowles has spoken very 

 kindly about my services on the Com- 

 mittee of Twenty-five. Perhaps I 

 have deserved it; for not even Chair- 

 man Bales and Judge Bowles actually 

 know how many hours and hours 1 

 have devoted to the work. But then, 

 I love it, no credit, therefore, I'm sure. 



Mr. Bowles modestly a,vers his ig- 

 norance of the meaning of the word, 

 lacuna; while I, as modestly, must 

 apologize for using the word, Now 

 "lacuna" means a little lake, and, by 

 transfer, a place where a hole is; 

 therefore, a gap. (I admit, rather 

 shame-facedly, that the word is per- 

 haps too strictly confined to philo- 

 sophical and theological use for 

 proper employment in a bird maga- 

 zine). 



But again, I do aver that young 

 Homer has nodded, really nodded! 

 For, he is quite in error in supposing 

 that I have incorporated in the list of 

 omitted species and sub-species a 

 single unit that has not been passed 

 upon by the A. O. U. Committee on 

 Classification. I should be chagrinned 

 enough, could I be assured that I had 

 been so careless as to include a single 

 item that had neither been passed up- 

 on, favorably; or any item that had 

 been eliminated. As I remember, 

 every single item was taken directly 

 from an A. O. U. Supplement. 



Therefore, I invite the Committee of 

 Twenty-five to get busy. And, smce 

 it was understood long ago, that I 

 was to have the privilege of suggest- 



ing the values of all units through the 

 Grouse Family, I shall take the lib- 

 erty of holding my reserved list of 

 such valuations, or a carbon paper of 

 the same, at the disposition of the 

 Officials of the Committee. Mean- 

 while, I would call the attention of 

 readers of The Oologist to the fact 

 that the Manx Shearwater has been 

 eliminated, displaced by the Bermuda 

 Puffin. 



P. B. Peabody, 

 Blue Rapids, Kansas. 



THE A. O. U. 



It was the privilege and pleasure of 

 the Editor to attend the fortieth stat- 

 ed meeting of the American Ornitho- 

 logical Society, at The Field Museum 

 of Natural History, of Chicago, the 

 24th, 25th and 26th of this month. 



This was the most successful meet- 

 ing of this Association since its or- 

 ganization. One hundred and sixty 

 members and twenty-three fellows be- 

 ing in attendance, a record that has 

 never been surpassed. The program 

 was varied and exceedingly interest- 

 ing. Many of the numbers being illus- 

 trated by lantern slides and moving 

 pictures of wild life. Some of the lat- 

 ter were truly amazing. 



It was the privilege of the Editor to 

 restore to the original taker, Ruthven 

 Dean, one of the oldest members, a 

 nest and eggs of the Warbling Vireo, 

 taken by him at Cambridge, Mass., in 

 1869, together with the original data 

 slip made out at that time by the 

 taker. This was done with a few re- 

 marks at the banquet given by the As- 

 sociation at the Auditorium Hotel, and 

 truly took Bro. Dean by complete sur- 

 prise. This set of eggs came to us 

 with the collection of Richard Christ, 

 which we described in The Oologist, 

 under the caption "Dreams," about 

 two years ago. 



