556 General Notes. [September, 
It moved off, after getting out of the nest, in a rather sluggish manner, 
as this species is nocturnal and sleeps during the day. — SPENCER 
TROTTER. 
Tae BLUEBIRD FEEDING ON AMPELOPSIS. — On the 2d of April, 
1876, this city was visited by remarkably large. numbers of the 
bluebird (Sialia sialis Baird). This was its first appearance in abun- 
dance this season, only a few stray individuals having previously paid us 
a “ flying visit,” during the wonderful installment of warm weather with 
which we were favored in January. The day was cold, and the frozen 
ground was partially covered with snow, the remains of the heavy fall of 
a few days before. Awakened before six o’clock in the morning by the 
loud twitterings of the birds, I found my visitors busily devouring the 
berries of the Virginian creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia Michx.), the 
vines of which extend over the whole of the easterly side of my house. 
They having been uncommonly prolific the past season, the branches 
were thickly covered with clusters of the purple fruit, which adhered to 
the stems all through the winter. From morning till night the blue- 
birds, continuing to arrive, crowded the vines, voraciously eating the ber- 
ries, of which, in their eagerness, they broke off nearly as many as 
‘they swallowed. The next day the weather suddenly became milder, 
and the birds disappeared. — Henry Gitiman, Detroit, Mich. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL News. — In the third volume of the Transac- 
tions of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis, Mr. A. J. Conant has 
published an article upon the archeology of Missouri, especially oa 
caves of the Ozark Mountains and the mounds and earthworks on the 
banks of Bayou St. John, in the southeastern portion of the State. 
The New York Tribune of July 7th records the tragic death of L. H. 
Cheney, a member of the Harvard Summer School of Geology, at Cum- 
berland Gap. While excavating a mound with three others, he was 
buried by the falling earth. . His companions were saved. 
The State Archxological Association of Indiana will hold its first 
annual meeting in the rooms of the state geologist at Indianapolis, on 
the 17th and 18th of October. In addition to the regular sessions, €x- 
cursions will be made to interesting localities. Provisions are — 
foot to establish a museum and library. We heartily commend this 
scheme, and believe that exhaustive special collections are necessary t0 
supplement the National and the Peabody Museums. 
The North American Review for July contains M 
r. Lewis H. Mor 
gan’s paper, read before the last meeting of the National Academy Hil 
uthor believes - 
the Houses of the Mound Builders. The distinguished a rings 
that the mural mounds were the foundations of the communal eae of 
of village Indians, and that they can be understood by the stu i 
similar structures now existing or known to have existed since the : 
mencement of American exploration. 
