29 



Mr. Cleaves spoke of finding young Killdeer (Oxyechus vocif- 

 erus) on early dates on Staten Island, — May 7 at Princes Bay 

 and half-grown birds found by Mr. Harold K. Decker on the 

 21st at West New Brighton. 



The speaker of the evening was Mr. F. D. Murphy; his 

 subject, ''Big Game Mammals of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan." 

 From experience gained in many years' residence in that 

 region, Mr. Murphy related much that as a sportsman he had 

 learned concerning the hunting and other habits of hyaenas, 

 lions and other big beasts. 



October 10, 1916. — The President in the chair. Twelve 

 members (Dr. Dwight and Messrs. Bowdish, Chapin, Chubb, 

 Cleaves, Griscom, Hix, Marks, J. T. Nichols, Phihpp, Rogers 

 and Woodruff) and two visitors present. 



Mr. Hix proposed the name of Mr. L. N. Nichols of the 

 New York Public Library for Resident Membership; it was 

 referred to the Membership Committee. 



The Secretary announced that the manuscript of the minutes 

 of the year ending March 14, 1916, for the next Abstract, was 

 ready for the press, and asked whether it should be published 

 at once, alone, or be held for the report of the Bird-Banding 

 Association, which, Mr. Cleave? said, could not be got ready 

 within two months. It was voted to publish an Abstract at 

 once, to consist only of minutes unless the manuscript of recent 

 papers presented to the Society by Dr. Wm. K. Gregory or 

 Mr. R. C. Murphy, or both, could be secured. 



Mr. Woodruff told of a Winter Wren {N annus h. hiemalis) 

 which had entered his house in Manhattan September 27. It 

 was soon tame enough to perch on his finger, and presently 

 flew out through a window opened for it. Mr. Chapin re- 

 marked that in the Congo the occasional birds that strayed 

 into houses always proved to belong to species not of the 

 cleared land about the houses, but of the forest or at least of 

 the second-growth. 



Mr. Chubb recorded the visit of three American Egrets 

 (Herodias egretta) to the flooded area in the southeast corner 

 of Broadway and 242d Street this summer. They arrived 

 July 16 and remained, except for about a week, the rest of the 



