118 



THE OOLOGIST 



Wild fowl strayed through for several 

 days until finally the weather cleared 

 up about November 10th. 



For the central ten days of Novem- 

 ber the weather was fine and smnmer 

 birds came out from hiding but about 

 November 22nd storms came again. 

 Scattering ducks started south again 

 and on November 29th I saw my fir-^t 

 flock of Juncos, which always mean 

 winter to me. 



And on December 2nd, after a r,n ow 

 storm, the weather is cold but clear 

 with the Meadowlarks making the 

 fields ring. 



Johnson Neff. 

 Marionville, Mo. 



The Poor Fox Sparrow 



We are receipt of "A Revision of 

 the Avian Genus Passerella, with 

 special reference to the Distribution 

 and Migration of Races in Californ-.a. 

 University of California Publications 

 in Zoology, Vol. 21, pp. 75-224, by H. 

 S. Swarth." This is an extensive 

 paper which shows very great re- 

 search and expenditure of time^ but 

 we cannot- endorse all the conclusions 

 that seem to be arrived at. We are 

 sorry for the poor Fox Sparrow which 

 is here split into sixteen more or less 

 "Millimeter Races." In fact we fear 

 it may ultimately meet the unhappy 

 fate in this respect that has already 

 overtaken the Song Sparrow and 

 Horned Lark, Red Winged Blackbird, 

 etc. To show the depth of the mire 

 in which our big Bird Doctors are 

 floundering in their efforts to give 

 every country in the United States a 

 separate sub-species; this author says 

 pp. 81 "In these birds variation is so 

 extensive and of such a nature that 

 not only might different people arrive 

 at different conclusions after study of 

 the same material, but the same per- 

 son might handle certain skins at dif- 



ferent times and label them different- 

 ly each time." 



In the name of common sense is 

 there any difference then in the birds, 

 when different scientists could not de- 

 tect it, nor can the difference be very 

 great when the same investigator 

 would refer the skin to a' different sub- 

 species every time he examined it. Is 

 it not about time to call a halt on this 

 sort of foolishness and get to "Nor- 

 maley." 



Rare 



We have recently added to our col- 

 lection a set of Trumpeter Swan and 

 four sets of Whooping Crane. Eggs 

 of these birds that are really authentic 

 are certainly ha'rd to get at this time. 



Editor. 



Concerning the Ornithology of the 



Long Expedition of 1820 



Geo. B. Osterhout 



During the summer of 1820 — a hun- 

 dred years ago— Major Stephen H, 

 Long conducted the notable expedition 

 which bears his liaine^ to the Rocky 

 Mountains. During the summer of 

 1819 the expedition came by Stianl' 

 boat from the vicinity of Pittsburg tc 

 the mouth of the Platte river, near 

 Council Bluffs, and wintered there* 

 Major Long was not at th^ anca'mp' 

 ment during the winter, but joined the 

 party on the 28th day of May, and ori 

 June 6th, 1920, began the then long 

 journey up the Platte. Dr. Edwin P. 

 James, then a young man of 23 years, 

 was botanist, also geologist and sur- 

 geon; he also became the historian of 

 the expedition and it is from hir, 

 "Account" that these notes of the Or- 

 nithology of the expedition are taken. 

 The "Account" was published in iS2S. 



Thomas Say was the Zoologist, and 

 to him fell the duty to "examine and 

 describe any objects in zoology and 

 its several branches, that may come 



