mo*t respects excellent. There are upwards of four hundred species, 

 which Mr. Sclater divides into four sub-families, as follows; 

 i, Taeniopterinae ; 2, Platyrrhynchinae ; 3, Elaineinae; 4, Tyranninae. 

 Specimens illustrating the great variation in the appearance of the Fly- 

 catchers were shown and their peculiarities and relation to one another 

 explained by Mr. Allen. Some of Taeniopterinae resemble Thrushes, 

 Wagtails, and some of the Wood Warhlers, while some of the Elaineinae 

 show wonderful variation in the length of wing of the same species 

 and also in the form and size of the bill. Why Mr. Sclater has removed 

 Sayomis ■phoebeU'ova among its relations, 6". nigricans and S. sayi, among 

 the Taeniopterinae, and placed it in a genus by itself among the Tyranninae, 

 is not clear to American students. 



January 4, 1889. — Mr. George B. Sennett, President, in the chair. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman read a paper entitled 'Remarks on the Northern 

 Limit of the Carolinian Fauna on the Atlantic Coast.' Selecting nine spe- 

 cies representative of Carolinian birds regularly occurring in or near the 

 valley of the Hudson, the various northern records of these species were 

 taken as a basis for some generalizations fully supported by the facts. 

 The species selected were : 1, Empido?iax acadicus ; 2, Corvus ossifra- 

 gus ; 3, Stelgidopteryx serripennis ; 4, Helmitherus vermivorus ; 5, Hel- 

 miut/iopkila pinus ; 6, Geothlypis formosa ; 7, Icteria virens ; 8, Seiurus 

 tnotacilla; 9, Sylvania mitrata. One of them, Seiurus ynotacilla, occurs 

 as far up the Hudson as Albany, while most of the others have not been 

 noted beyond Sing Sing. Most of them are found to be more or less 

 common in Connecticut, while on Long Island they are with a few 

 exceptions rare; thus indicating that while the Hudson Valley and 

 southern Connecticut are distinctly tinged with the Carolinian fauna, 

 Long Island has but little claim to such relationship. Mr. William 

 Dutcher's evidence on this point supported Mr. Chapman's remarks, 

 which were freely discussed by members of the society. Dr. L. B. 

 Bishop supplied information bearing upon Carolinian species in Connecti- 

 cut. He also spoke of a specimen of Ammodramus princeps taken in 

 Connecticut ten miles from the sea. 



Mr. Dutcher spoke of the great scarcity cf birds this winter as noticed 

 by his correspondents on Long Island. 



Mr. Chapman knew of several Tachycineta bicolor seen and killed by a 

 gunner near Englewood on ., December 31, about 1881. The day was 

 warm. He referred to the habit this species has of feeding upon bayberries. 

 Dendroica coronata also feeds upon them, and last winter, when the ber- 

 ries were abundant, this species was seen by him throughout the whole 

 season independent of the weather, while this year none were to be 

 found, and on examining the locality frequented last year by the birds he 

 noticed that the crop of berries was small and the berries themselves bad. 

 From this he was led to infer that the past unusually wet season may have 

 rotted the seeds of the weeds upon which winter birds largely feed, and 

 that this would account for their scarcity now. 



Mr. L. S. Foster spoke of an unusual flight of Killdeer Plover (sEgial- 



