fOREST AND STREAM. 
428 
|Nov. 25, i96g 
Papers at the A. O. U. Congress, 
The twenty-third annual congi-ess of the Aiherican 
Ornithologists’ Union was held at the American Museum 
of Natural History, New York city, with the exception 
of . the final session, which was at the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences. M'eetings open to the public were 
held forenoon and afternoon, Nov. 14, 15 and 16, the 
programmes being made up of the reading, illustration ■ 
and discussion of papers by members Luncheon was 
swerved at noon on each of the three days by the Linnasan 
Society of New York, and on the evening of the i8th 
the members met at the Hotel Endicott at an informal 
dinner. 
At the opening session “Some Unpublished Letters of 
Wilson and Som.e Unstudied Works of Audubon,” by 
Witmer Stone, Philadelphia, Pa., was the first paper. It 
was received with the interest always shown ' by bird 
students for the works of these pioneer American orni- ' 
thologists. In “The Evolution of Species through Cli- . 
matic Conditions,” Dr. J. A. Allen, New York city*, spoke, 
of the manner in which our present geographic races 
illustrated the differentiation of species whose distribu- 
tion covered a wide area, including-' very diverse climatic ' 
conditions, which in time affected the plumage and ap- 
pearance of the birds. In a paper on “Summer Birds of 
the Mt. Marcy Region in the Adirondacks,” Elon H. 
Eaton, Canandaigua, N. Y., enumerated many birds, and 
recounted interesting facts regarding them in their horth- 
ern forest home. The final paper of the morning was- 
“Pelican Island Revisited,” hy Prank M. Chapman, New' 
York city. Mr. Chapman illustrated his paper by a beau- 
tiful series of views of the home life of these interesting 
birds on their own exclusive island in the Indian; River 
region 'of Florida. This island is now a Government 
reservation, set apart especially for these birds, and is 
the only place on our coasts where they breed. The 
slides showed old birds and young, or varying sizes, nests, 
eggs and method of feeding, in which the young bird 
puts its head w^ell into the throat of the parentl ' 
The first paper on the afternoon programme was 
“Some Breeding Warblers of Demarest, N. J.,” by B. S. 
Bowdish, Demarest, N. J., illustrated by lantern slides. 
Ten species were enumerated as known to breed as fol- 
lows ; Black and white, blue-winged, yellow, chestnut- 
sided, black-throated green, oven bird, northern yellow- 
throat, yellow-breasted chat, hooded, redstart and the 
Louisiana w'ater thrush, and several others were spoken 
of as probably breeding, though nests had not been found 
by the author. Thirty slides of birds, nests, eggs, young 
and nesting sites illustrated the paper. The second paper 
was “Notes on Wing Movements in Bird Flight,” illus- 
trated by lantern slides, by William L. Finlay, Portland, 
Oregon. Mr. Finlay has accomplished the most remark- 
able results in certain branches of bird photography, not- 
ably birds on the wing, probably, of any living photo- 
grapher and nature student, and the series of slides 
shown on this occasion were a wonderful revelation of 
his success along this line. The possibilities of bringing 
out the principles of wing movement in flight were 
strongly indicated, though Mr. p'inlay regards his work 
as only a step in this direction.- In a paper on “The 
Status of Certain Species and Sub-species of North 
American Birds,” J. Dwighfi Jr., New York city, follow- 
ing a line of reasoning which he adopted several years 
ago, regarding the procedure of the American Ornitholo- 
gists’ Union in the matter of nomenclature, argued 
against the hair-splitting methods of differentiation that 
has led to such cojifusion in the case of certain geograph- 
ical forms. The case was discussed from the opposite 
side by Mr. Oberholser, impartially by Dr. Allen, and 
very strongly in favor of a more simple and less com- 
plicated method by Mr. D. G. Elliot. The last paper of 
this session was “Wildfowl Nurseries of Northwest Can- 
ada,” by Herbert K. Job, Kent, Conn. Mr. Job is one of 
the pioneer bird photographers, and his work is among 
the best. His slides illustrated the home life of the 
waterfowl, which are still to be found in great colonies 
in this wild northern country. 
After the dinner of that evening the members returned 
to the Museum for an informal rece,ption, at which there 
was a demonstration of a new projection apparatus. This 
apparatus not only projects slides, but a magnified and 
beautifully clear colored reflection of any small object, 
introduced into the objective, is thrown in color on the 
screen. 
The first paper of the morning session of the second 
day, “Andreje Hesselius, a Pioneer Delaware Ornitholo- 
gist,” by C. J. Pennock, Kennett Square, Pa., dealt prin- 
cipally with extracts from.fhp note books of this Swedish 
missionary, whose observations were made some 200 
years ago. At that time ornithological observations were 
few, and those included in these notes'* were extremely 
interesting, and couched as they were, in the quaint style 
of the time, often very amusing. Witmer Stone, of Phila- 
delphia, Pa., discussed “The Probability of Error in Bird 
Migration Records.” Mr. Stone spoke of the conditions 
that tend to admit error . in the records as gathered hy 
single isolated observers and recorded the methods he 
has adopted, of grouping observers in parties of three or . 
four, who practically cover the same ground, thus afford- 
ing the opportunity of checking and averaging the ob- 
servations of each by those of the others. Mr. Stone 
followed this paper by one on “Some Observations on the 
Applicability of .the Mutation Theory to- Birds.” The 
discussion which followed by Dr. Allen and others 
showed a disinclination to admit the applicability of this 
theory to birds. Henry Oldys, of Washington, D. C., 
followed with a discussion of “The Song of the Hermit 
Thrush.” Mr. Oldys has for some time devoted himself 
to the study of bird song, and gave an interesting ac- 
count of his experience in securing an opportunity to 
study the hermit’s song, of his impressions regarding it, 
and its comparison to the song of the wood thrush. He 
gave some pleasing imitations of a variety of songs of 
each of ' these two species, and concluded by rendering a 
little song, the words of which he had composed, to the 
air he had recorded from the most accomplished of the 
. hermit songsters to whom he had listened. 
Mr. Chapman concluded the forenoon session with 
“Impressions of English Bird-Life,” illustrated by lantern 
slides. Besides giving a number of views of English 
birds, the author gave views of the home and town sur- 
rounding of Gilbei't White, as well as other characteristic 
English country scenes, and contrasted the conditions of- 
bird-life in England and this country. England being 
described as possessed of fewer species but many more 
individuals. 
The afternoon meeting opened with an exhibition of 
lantern slides and “Similarity of the Birds of the Maine 
Woods, and the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania,” by 
William L. Bailey,. Ardmore, Pa. The Pocono Mountain 
•region has-been hut little worked as ornithological terri- 
'tory, and the author enumerated many species included 
. as normally more, northern breeding birds, some of them 
not having been previousl}' recorded as breeding in Penn- 
sylvania. Prof. Wells W. Cook, of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, _ Washington, D. C., followed 
with a paper on “Discontinuous Breeding Ranges.” The 
. author cited in.stances. of birds found breeding in the 
.southern extremity of the southern hemisphere, and the 
northern extremity of the northern hemisphere, while be- 
tween the two extended a vast area over which they were 
not found d'uring the breeding season. He . also men- 
tioned other instances, of species having restricted breed- 
ing ranges, separated hy extensive longitudinal gaps. The 
final speaker of the session was Abbott PL Thayer, Dub- 
lin, N. PL, who demonstrated his claims regarding pro- 
tective coloration in animals, which, as he explained and 
abu.ndamly convinced his audience, are not theories but 
facts. First regarding the views hitherto- held of the 
efficacy of coloration harmonizing with surroundings, 
Mr. Thayer explained that this was dependent on the na- 
ture and effect of the light that the creature was seen in. 
His contention was that as the prevailing light conditions 
have the tendency to bring the upper parts into strongest 
relief, blending into least conspicuousness on the under 
parts. To counteract this tendency nature has colored 
her creatures darkest above, shading to lightest beneath. 
The speaker gave a demonstration of his contention by 
exhibiting an imitation of a leopard, ground color shaded 
as in nature, from darkest above to lightest beneath, also 
with the spots shown, and with a background painted in 
the same color as the animal. By alternately lighting 
from above and below the creature was made to disappear 
when seen in the normal, top light, and to stand out 
sharply, despite the exact similarity of color to back- 
ground, when seen in a bottom light. Secondly, the 
speaker contended that the white upper markings on 
many creatures cannot- be guiding signals for others of the 
same species, because from the pursuing creature’s range 
of vision these markings would usually come against the 
skyline and therefore disappear against the sky. They 
are, therefore, of importance in reducing the creature’s 
silhouette against the sky by subtracting the area of the 
part that thus blends into the sky. Mr. Thayer also gave 
a number of other demonstrations. The title of his paper 
was “The Principles of the Disguising Coloration of 
Animals.” 
The opening paper for the forenoon session of the final 
day was “The Collection of Birds in the New York Zoo- 
logical Park,” C. W. Beebe, New York city. Mr. Beebe 
gave many interesting experiences in connection with the 
various experiments that he has such an excellent oppor- 
tunity of conducting at the Zoological Park, among others 
mentioning an experiment with two young white-throated 
sparrows hatched in the Park. These birds' were fed in 
the same manner on the same kind of food, but one was 
kept in a cage out in the light and air under fairly nor- 
mal conditions, while the other was kept indoors, in a 
rather dark place, and subjected to a moisture-laden at- 
mosphere. At the first molt the two birds showed no 
perceptible, change, but soon after the second molt Mr. 
Beebe found that the bird kept indoors had become an 
almost uniform dusky color, and with no trace to indi- 
cate the identity of the speciilien. The skins of the two 
birds were exhibited. The second paper was “A Contri- 
bution to the Natural History of the English Cuckoo, 
with a Review of the Literature on the Subject,” by Dr. 
Montague R. Leverson, New York city. Dr. Leverson 
corrected the erroneous statements that the young of the 
English cuckoo ejected the eggs and .young of the bird 
in whose nest they were hatched, before, the young cuckoo 
was twenty-four hours, old, and t^at they had, at this 
period, a depression in the anterioD>portiori of the back 
to enable them the more easily to effect this ejection. Lie 
illustrated his' paper by drawings and photos, and appar- 
ently abundantly proved his contention. Dr. Dwight 
gave a paper on “Plumages and Status of the White- 
winged Gulls of the Genus Larus,” illustrating his re- 
marks with a considerable series of skins. He contended 
for the' elimination of one recognized form, and for Lhe 
recognition of another new form. A, paper by Arthur T. 
Wa}me,- Mount PleasanU S. C, on “A Contribution to 
.the Ornithology of South Carolina, pertaining . chiefly to 
the Coast 'Region,” in the absence of the author, was read 
by Mr. Brewster. The lisLaf species covered was a quite 
lengthy one, and. was- fully annotated. Mr. T. S. Palmer, 
in the absence of the, author-, pead a paper , by O. Widman, 
St. Louis, Mo-, on “ Should Bird Protection Laws be in 
the hands of the -National Government?” ' The author 
contended that inasmuch as the birds were the guests of 
the nation, rather , than of any one State, the National 
Government should have tffe supervision of their protec- 
tion, thereby securing a uniform law, which otherwise 
could not be secured. Mr. Thomas S. Roberts, Minne- 
apolis; Minn., related “A Lapland Longspur Tragedy,” 
illustrated by lantern slides. On the night of March 13, 
1904, during a heavy migration flight of these birds . 
southern Minnesota, and northern Idaho, a severe sno 
si orm occurred in this region during, which thousands 1 
these birds struck the buildings, telegraph poles, wir- 
and the ice on lakes, many being instantly killed ar 
others injured, some of the latter being revived in tl 
houses and afterward liberated. Mr. Thomas stated th 
■:i conservative computation of the number which we 
■killed was 750, 000, but that he fully believed that i,ooo,0( 
would be a more nearly correct estimate. 
The afternoon session was held at the 'Brooklyn Inst 
tute of Arts and Sciences. Mr. F. A. Lucas, in behalf ( 
the In,stitute, welcomed the Union to the Institute. IVI 
Lucas was. elected chairman of the meeting. Mr. Georgii 
K. Cherrie, New York city, spoke on “The Hoatzin an^ 
other South American Birds.” The ex'hibition of spec 
mens to illustrate this paper were viewed later. Mi 
Cherrie spoke of the habits of this interesting bird,, whicl 
while young, has claws on the wings, used like the hool 
on the wings of bats, to assist in climbing. They are lo; 
before the bird reaches maturity. The species nes; 
where the structure will be over water when the eggs ai 
laid, and the eggs are not laid until the river rises sufl 
civ.nitly to_ inundate the lower part of the tree in whic 
the nest is built. The last paper of the Congress wt' 
“Among the Water Birds of Southern Oregon,” by Will 
jam L. Finley, of Portland, Oregon. This paper w? 
illustrated by a very large series of beautiful slides, sho-w'* 
ing_ the bird life in the great rookeries of this still will 
region. The congress was then adjourned. The men 
bers were served with refreshments by Mr. and Mr 
Lucas and the exhibitions of specimens in the museui, 
were afterward viewed. ' 
On the morning of the 17th the members visited th 
New York Aquarium and then went to the New Yo-r' 
Zoological Park, -wdrere they were entertained by M: 
Beebe, who served refreshments. B. S. Bowdish. 
Daring Deeds of Dogs. 
Malty in the Moccasin's Den, 
Black, heavy, boiling clouds were massing in th 
southwest. The soft, sweet, voluptuous breeze had bee 
succeeded by an ominous calm. The gay music of moi 
of the birds had died away ; even the noisy, irrepressibl 
yellow chat which here renders day and night hideou 
with his incessant screechings (which may seem mos 
entrancing music to .his kin) was awed into comparativ 
silence. It was evident that “a clash of the -elementsi- 
was impending; and that, in the Ozarks, means somd 
thing dreadful ; for though we seldom get a visit froii 
a dangerbus -wind, the lightning and thunder are as ter 
rible as any region of the earth can produce. Sometime 
the thunder is so loud that a timid being wonders th 
very globe is not split open — and the concussion cause 
even the firmest substances to shake and rattle; whil 
the power of the lightning does not need to tie mere!' 
guessed at, but leaves evidences “susceptible to ocula) 
demonstration.” ] 
I have seen a round ball of red, white or blue light 
ning apparently twenty inches in diameter, crush an oal 
of at least equal thickness into cord wood and kindlinj 
wood, and scatter the fragments in every direction mon 
than 100 feet — that is,_ they were distributed about th| 
site of the tree in a circle over 200 feet wide. I havj 
known it to break off the upper half of a tall pine— abou 
eighteen inches thick at that part— and hurl the great 
heavy top sixty feet from the stump. Last summer fivi 
or six trees from fifty feet to 200 yards apart, and mos' 
of the poles of a rural telephone line parallel with then 
for a distance of about a furlong, between Hot Spring: 
and the Ouachita, were struck simultaneously, it i: 
thought, by one and the same discharge. The awfir 
crash _was heard at my home on the west side of th( 
Ouachita, about three miles distant — indeed, it soundec 
as if it had bursted a mountain at our very ears. 
This much I have said about the lightning terrors ol 
the region to impress more fully upon the reader thf 
desperate nature of the canine adventure I desire to trj 
to narrate ; which, though it may read like a chapter 
froin a “blood and thunder” novel, will, nevertheless, be 
as literally true as my memory and judgment can make it. 
Malty, my faithful friend and well-nigh inseparable 
companion, had called me forth— perhaps the “red gods” 
had something to do with it, too— and I was following 
her anxiously, for her excited manner— bristling and 
growling— indicated the proximity of something more 
formidable than a rabbit. What it was J never found 
out, for soon we came to the brook, and on the shore 
we were distracted by a new enemy, a good-sized water 
moccasin. 
Now, Malty was, not an invincible snake dog as Coallie 
now is. On the contrary she had been, up to this time, 
always so rattled at the sight of a snake that I did not 
consider it safe to allow her to attack one)' even of the 
less venomous sort. Once she had poked her nose right 
into the jaws of , a moccasin while I was pulling at her 
tail trying to prevent her, and the foe fastened his 
rough teeth into her so firmly that she drew him back- 
ward about a yard before tearing loose from him. Her 
body soon swelled to nearly twice its proper size, in spite 
of all I could do, and she was sick with the poison for 
about two weeks, during which time she refused all food 
and drink, and kept her head covered up in 'a dark cor- 
ner of her room. When anyone uncovered her for ex- 
amination of her wound she looked and behaved like 
one ashamed, and immediately hid her head' if permitted 
to do so. 
So I now reminded her of her former indiscretion and 
checked her rashness, while I cast my eyes about for a 
club, clod or any sort of weapon. Although the snake 
was surrounded with driftwood, I could not pick up 
