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artistic botany by Mrs. George Black, of Yukon; and an exhibit of the 
most important species of ferns, orchids, and lilies from the National 
Herbarium. An exhibit of the most important species of Canadian woods 
from the herbarium was used as part of an exhibit by the Forestry Branch 
of the Department of the Interior. Other exhibits outside of the scope 
of the Biological Division were made by the Department of Agriculture, 
which had an extensive exhibit illustrating the development of new and 
hardy varieties of wheat, and the Natural Resources Intelligence Service, 
Department of the Interior, had an interesting exhibit of natural and 
manufactured products of Canadian origin. 
The outstanding scientific gathering of the year was the 44th annual 
meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union, which on invitation 
extended in 1925 by the Minister of Mines and accepted by the Union, 
was made a semi-official affair. This meeting was unique in that although 
the Union has numbers of fellows, members, and associates living in Canada, 
the annual meeting had never before been held outside of the United States. 
The public sessions occupied three days, October 12, 13, and 14, 1926, the 
regular and more popular sessions being held in the auditorium of the 
Museum and technical sessions on October 13 and 14 in a room in the 
west wing. The general sessions were opened by addresses of welcome 
by Hon. Charles Stewart, Minister of Mines, and by Mr. Clyde L. Patch, 
first vice-president of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club, responded to by 
Dr. Alexander Wetmore, president of the A. O. U. and assistant secretary 
of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C. 
The regularly scheduled program comprised fifty-seven numbers, 
representing practically all fields of ornithology, including taxonomy and 
nomenclature, life histories, migration and bird-banding, exploration and 
bird photography including motion pictures. Papers of special interest to 
Canadian ornithology were a review of “Canadian Field Ornithology, 
1750-1900,” by E. A. Preble. This was supplemented to some extent by a 
special exhibit of the more important publications on Canadian birds 
illustrated by portraits of many of the authors, most of the latter being 
loaned from the collection of Ruthven Deane of Chicago. J. Dewey 
Soper, who had just returned from two years’ work on Baffin island, gave 
an account of his work there, and Dr. W. E. C. Todd, of Carnegie Museum, 
Pittsburgh, who has made several expeditions across parts of Labrador and 
northern Quebec, gave a summary of his 1926 expedition along the east 
coast of Hudson bay and in Hudson strait. Mr. Harrison F. Lewis, of the 
Canadian National Parks branch, illustrated some of the economic phases 
of eider-duck conservation, including the Icelandic method of cleaning 
the eider-down which is being tried out on the north shore of the gulf of 
St. Lawrence. Other papers included “A Visit to the Queen Charlotte 
Islands, B.C.,” by Rev. C. J. Young of Vancouver, “A Further Study of 
the Home Life of the Northern Parula Warbler,” by H. Mousley of Mont- 
real, and “Banding Redpolls,” by Dr. R. E. DeLury of Ottawa. 
As an important part of the A. 0. U. meeting, and as a public exhibit 
for the following month in the Museum halls, an exhibit of bird art was 
gathered. This exhibit was world-wide in its representation, including 
