35 



together illustrated the method of extracting the venom of a 

 Cotton-mouth Moccasin {Ancistrodon piscivorus) ,■ the venom 

 being used to produce an antitoxin for snake bite. 



January 11, 1910. — The President in the chair. Twenty-nine 

 members and visitors present. 



Mr. J. A. Weber reported securing the skin of a Purple Sand- 

 piper {Arqiiatella maritima) shot at Rockaway Beach, L. I., on 

 November 2, 1909. He related how he had attempted to pur- 

 chase the bird from a pot-hunter who had killed it, but the 

 latter, declaring he needed it for food, refused to part with it. 

 Mr. Weber thereupon accompanied the man to his home, skinned 

 the bird, and leaving the morsel of flesh, was permitted to take 

 the skin. At the man's home he saw two stuffed Barn Owls 

 {Aluco pratincola), taken in Woodhaven Woods, L. I., and a 

 Briinnich's Murre {Uria lomvia), taken on Long Island, Decem- 

 ber 13, 1908. Mr. Weber also reported collecting two Lapland 

 Longspurs {Calcarius lapponicus) at Long Beach, L. I., on 

 January 2. 



Mr. Ludlow Griscom told of a Sharp-tailed Sparrow (Passer- 

 herbulus caudacutus) which he had observed at Long Beach, L. I., 

 on December 27. The bird allowed a close approach and was 

 perhaps injured, thus accounting for its presence at that season. 

 He also reported a Saw^-whet Owl (Cryptoglaux acadica) which 

 had spent a day in Washington Square, and could be seen in a 

 neighboring tree from the windows of his home. He also said 

 that a Baltimore Oriole {Icterus galhula) had been wintering in 

 Central Park, and had been seen by several observers. 



]\Ir. Robinson reported seeing a Loon {Gavia) at Chateaugay 

 Lake, in the Adirondacks, on December 28, although the lake- 

 was completely frozen over and the temperature 16 degrees, 

 below zero. He said the bird was able to fly perfectly. 



The paper of the evening was by Mr. B. S. Bowdish, and was: 

 entitled " A Week \\dth the Herons and Shore Birds on the Coast 

 of South Carolina." It was the first of a series of three papers, 

 describing the ornithological results of a trip made last summer 

 by three Linnsean Society members, Messrs. Bowdish, Philipp, 

 and Abbott. The party was successful in locating a small colony- 

 of Snowy Egrets {Egretta candidissima) in the midst of a large 



