Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



35 



We have before us Vol. I, No. 1 of the Bulletin of 

 the Cooper Ornithological Club. This Club has had a 

 steady and healthy growth ever since its organiza- 

 tion in 1893, and has accomplished some excellent 

 work. Heretofore it has depended upon what space 

 could be afforded in the current magazines for the 

 publishing of its proceedings, which has always been 

 too limited to meet the demands of the Club. The 

 direct result of this is the establishment of the Bul- 

 letin — a ipaper of its own, to be published bi-month- 

 ly. It is printed in Santa Clara, Califorina, and is 

 in charge of the following editoral staff: Chester 

 Barlow, Editor-in-chief; Henry Eeed Taylor and 

 Howard Eobertson, associates; Donald A. Cohen and 

 A. J. McCormick, business managers. 



This first number quite appropriately has the 

 front cover adorned with a half-tone of the California 

 Vulture. The frontispiece is a picture of Dr. James 

 G. Cooper, after whom the Club was named, and 

 the first five pages are taken up with a sketch of his 

 life. This is followed by other articles and notes 

 in every way a credit to the Club. 



The Bulletin is printed on a good paper, is well 

 gotten up, and is very neat typographically. 



The M. O. C. Bulletin presents her compliments 

 to her western sister, and wishes the members of 

 the Cooper Ornithological Club all success in their 

 new undertaking. 



The Editors of the Bulletin extend their congratu- 

 lations to Mr. L. Whitney Watkins, who has recent- 

 ly been appointed a member of the State Board of 

 Agriculture by Gov. Pingree. 



During the last two years Mr. Watkins has been 

 doing some excellent work for the protection of our 

 birds and game in the capacity of deputy game war- 

 den, and we feel confident that not only will he 

 perform the duties of his new office with credit, but 

 will also do whatever lies within his power to ex- 

 tend the knowledge of our birds among the farmers 

 and others of our State, and to impart to them a true 

 understanding of their feathered friends. 



The many readers and friends of the Osprey 

 thoroughout the country will be pleased to learn 

 that this popular exponent of ornithology which has 

 so long held its place as the leading monthly maga- 

 zine devoted to the subject, is still in the field, 

 though coming from a new quarter. Last fall, short- 

 ly after the issue of the September number, it passed 

 into the hands of a new company located in Wash- 

 ington. The appearance of the first numbers from 

 the new house was long delayed, the October and 

 November numbers coming together early in Janu- 

 ary; the December and January numbers are in the 

 printer's hands and will soon be out."^ There have 



also been several changes in the editorial staff of 

 the paper, it being edited now by Dr. Elliott Coues 

 and Theodore Gill, with the assistance of Mr. W. A. 

 Johnson, and Louis Agassiz Fuertes as art editor. 

 It suffices to sav that under the guidance of Dr. 

 Coues, the Osprey' s friends will have no fear for its 

 future. 



The two numbers at hand present a slightly 

 changed general appearance, but in no way do they 

 deteriorate from the high standard which this publi- 

 cation has maintained. Perhaps the best article in 

 the October issue is "A Trip Across Lower Califor- 

 nia," by George P. Merrill and illustrated with five 

 plates. Two very interesting articles in the No- 

 vember number are "The Home of the Ivory-bill," 

 by ]Mr. Robert Ridgway, recording a two months' 

 sojourn near one of the great cypress swamps of 

 Florida, during which time only two specimens of this 

 rare bird were taken, although two pairs were lo- 

 cated and the nests found; and "The Enchanted 

 Isles," by Rev. Herbert K. Job, an account of bird- 

 nesting in Dakota. Both articles are accompanied 

 by several illustrations. 



Dr. Coues informs us that the Osprey will be con- 

 tinued, for the present, along the same lines as 

 hitherto, but with the prospect of soon increasing in 

 size. It is also proposed, if the increased subscrip- 

 tion list permits it, to begin in an early number an 

 "entirely new popular yet scientific treatise on the 

 Birds of North A7?ierica^ in the form of a separately 

 paged monthly supplement, profusely illustrated. 



We heartily recommend the Osprey to 3.nj of owt 

 readers who are not already subscribers. 



The October Auk (1898) contains an excellent color- 

 ed plate of Kirtlaud's Warbler [Dendroica kirtlandi,) 

 followed by a paper by Mr. Frank M. Chapman giving 

 notes on the species and a list of recorded captures. 

 In the last Auk f .January 1899, p. 81) Mr. Chapman 

 adds some further notes, making the "total number 

 of known specimens of this Warbler seventy-five, of 

 which fifty-five have been taken in the | Bahamas 

 and twenty in the United States.'' It is interesting 

 to note that of the twenty records for the L^nited 

 States five are from Michigan. These are: female, 

 Ann Arbor, May 15, 1875, A. B. Covert: female, 

 Ann Arbor, May 16, 1879, A. B. Covert; male, Bat- 

 tle Creek, May 11, 1883, N. Y. Green; male, Straits 

 of Mackinac, May 21, 1885, AVm. Marshall (most 

 northern record; killed by striking lighthouse); fe- 

 male, Ann Arbor, about May 1, 1888, Mr. Kuaj)p. 

 This last specimen, which is in the Museum at the 

 University in Ann Arbor, is the only specimen of 

 the species now in the State. 



* The December number has Just reached, us (Jan. 30.) 

 Besides other excellent things it has a full page plate of the 

 Blue Jay, by Fuertes. 



