EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 243 



or beneath any decaying log or stump. One species, with very long legs, 

 is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes called the 

 1 wall-sweeper,' on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and it is even reputed 

 to prey upon Cockroaches and other household pests." 



Mr. A. W. Anthony, of San Diego, California, has recently examined 

 a very large colony of Farallone Cormorants, nesting on San Martin 

 Island, Lower California, to ascertain, if possible, at what age the nostril 

 becomes closed. " This colony had been so often disturbed by the guano 

 schooners, that even at this late date (July 16th) many nests contained 

 fresh eggs; while young birds, ranging from those but just hatched to 

 nearly full grown, were found by thousands." In the newly hatched 

 young, which were blind, the nostril was a mere slit, scarcely noticeable, 

 but those a few days old showed a well developed orifice, which exhibited 

 no sign of closing in the largest young I could find, nearly as large as their 

 parents, but not half fledged." (' The Auk,' April, 1897.) 



We are glad to see that our American contemporary, ' The Osprey,' has 

 come to stay, and that the veteran ornithologist, Dr. Elliott Coues, has 

 become associated with the magazine as a consulting editor. From its 

 pages we extract the following report from a collector in Howkan, Jackson, 

 Alaska, which makes that somewhat generally considered inhospitable 

 region to appear as a naturalist's paradise : — 



"Have been here now a month and am having a 'great time.' Am 

 nicely located in a cabin on the beach, with a good canoe and enough to eat. 

 Deer are plentiful, and I have four hanging in the shed. A fine Clam bed 

 is in front of the house, a Salmon stream up the beach, a Holibut bank in 

 the channel, and Ducks, Geese and waterfowl everywhere. Bald Eagles 

 are numerous, and I have over a dozen nests located. ... I have been so 

 busy with various odd jobs and away on prospecting trips that I have not 

 really settled down to collecting as yet, but I have taken some nice birds — 

 Kowak, Chickadee, Aleutian Song Sparrow, Alaska Winter Wren, Alaska 

 Three-toed Woodpecker, and others. A few Harlequin Ducks are about, 

 but hard to shoot. Ptarmigan are plentiful, but I have not obtained any 

 yet, and do not know of what species they are. Cormorants are abundant ; 

 they ' line up ' on a rock just opposite the house, and one shot will generally 

 kill as many specimens as can be put up in a day. They are mostly violet- 

 green and white-crested, but there is another kind that I have not been 

 able to capture as yet. Marbled and another species of Murrelet are very 

 common on the open water, in company with the larger Guillemots " 



We learn from the last « Report of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, 

 South Africa,' that " the alarming spread of insect pests in the Eastern 



