Page Twelve 



THE NEWS 



Prosidciit ()sl)()in has l>eon elected \"ice-Pr('sident of the Hispanic- 

 Society. 



The thirty-eighth stated meeting of the American Ornithologists* 

 Union was held November 8 to 12, at the U. S. National Museum, in 

 Washington. The American Museum was represented by Dr. Chapman. 

 Dr. Dwight, Mr. Miller, Mr. Chapin, Mr. Griscom, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 

 Nichols and Mrs. Reichenberger. Dr. Witmer Stone, of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, was elected President, and Dr. Dwight 

 was elected one of the two Vice-Presidents. A vacancy in the body of 

 Fellows of the Union, which is limited to fifty, was filled by the election 

 of Mr. ]Murphy. New York has reason to be proud of its representation 

 at this meeting, the papers by New York members being greater m 

 number and importance than those of members from any city other 

 than \Vashington, D. C. Those of our Museum staff to read papers 

 were Dr. Chapman, Mr. Chapin, Mr. Miller, Mr. Griscom, Mr. Nichols 

 and Mr. Murphy. Last years meeting of the A. O. I', was held in New 

 York: next years will be at Philadelphia. 



Last month the Smilodon Tribe of the \\'oodcraft League was 

 organized, and officially recognized, from among members of our Depart- 

 ment of Public Education. The Smilodon has been adopted as totem. 

 Bi-weekly meetings are held, at which reports of natural history ob- 

 servations are made, and games are held. At the last meeting, Miss 

 Wylie reported 27 wild flowers seen in bloom on November 7th. and Miss 

 Vreeland described seeing a chipmunk eat a worm. Dr. Fisher told of a 

 recent visit to John Burroughs's home, when Dr. Fisher and Mr. Bur- 

 roughs cooked briggan steak. On this occasion Mr. Burroughs wore a 

 coat made of the skins of seventy woodchucks, which he had caught. 

 The next meeting of the tribe will be held on December oth. out-of-doors, 

 when the council ring will form around a campfire. 



Dr. Gregory and Mr. Henn are studying some fossil fishes brought 

 from Cuba by Mr. Barnum Brown. These fossils occur in hard nodules 

 of shale which are weathered out of the limestone cliffs and fall to the 

 talus slope below. The material is fragmentary and difficult to work 



