Dec. ii, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
933 
American Ornithologists’ Union. 
The twenty-seventh annual congress of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union, held this week 
at the American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, brought together a distinguished 
company of ornithologists. The sessions occu¬ 
pied Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and 
were full of interest. 
The business meeting of the Fellows was held 
Monday evening, Dec. 6, at the Museum at 8 
o’clock. E. W. Nelson, the president of the 
Union, occupied the chair. Among those pres¬ 
ent were: Dr. J. A. Allen, C. F. Bachelder and 
Wm. Brewster, of Cambridge; Ruthven Deane, 
of Chicago; Dr. L. B. Bishop, of New Haven; 
F. M. Chapman, Wm. Dutcher and Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr., Dr. D. G. Elliott and Geo. Bird 
Grinnell, of New York; Drs. A. K. Fisher and 
C. H. Merriam, of Washington; F. A. Lucas, 
of Brooklyn; Lynds Jones, of Ohio; J. H. Sage, 
of Connecticut; Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia. 
The meeting had been preceded by a meeting 
of the council, which took up the most of Mon¬ 
day. 
At the business meeting the minutes of the 
previous meeting were read and adopted, and 
various reports, including that of the treasurer, 
were read. The election of officers resulted in 
the choice of the following: E. W. Nelson, 
President; Frank M. Chapman and Dr. A. K. 
Fisher, Vice-Presidents; John H. Sage, Secre¬ 
tary; Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., Treasurer. As 
additional members of the Council were chosen 
Ruthven Deane, Wm. Dutcher, H. A. Henshaw, 
F. A. Lucas, Chas. W. Richmond, Thomas H. 
Roberts, Witmer Stone. 
Washington, D. C., was selected as the place 
for holding the next annual meeting of the 
Union. 
Arthur Cleveland Bent was elected a Fellow. 
Allan Brooks, Bradshaw H. Swales, Harry. S. 
Swarth and Percy A. Taverner were chosen 
members. One hundred and eleven associate 
members were elected. 
The public sessions began Tuesday, Dec. 7. 
They were open to the public and were devoted 
to the presentation of scientific papers. In the 
evening an informal reception was given by the 
Board of Trustees and officers of the American 
Museum to the members of the A. O. U. On 
Wednesday evening a subscription dinner was 
held at the Hotel Endicott, and on Thursday 
afternoon, after the close of the Congress, the 
members of the Union, by special invitation of 
the Brooklyn Institute, visited the Institute’s 
Museum on the Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, 
where tea was served. The New York Zoo¬ 
logical Society extended to members of the 
Union an invitation to visit the Zoological Park 
on Friday. An all day excursion was planned 
to the fishing grounds off Sandy Hook to see 
the gulls which congregate there in great num¬ 
bers. 
Many of the papers presented to the Union 
were of great interest and many were beauti¬ 
fully illustrated by lantern slides. An effective 
paper—and one of peculiar interest to sports¬ 
men was Dr. Geo. W. Field’s “Notes on the Pin¬ 
nated Grouse of Martha’s Vineyard,” which, in 
the absence of the author, was read by E. H. 
Forbush. Mr. Job’s talk on “Response of Wild 
Birds to Kindness,” with its lantern slides, gave 
a graphic picture of the tameness of certain 
species, which have learned to know man, at 
least as non-hostile. The older members of the 
Union listened with attention to the memorial 
addresses delivered by Ruthven Deane on 
Charles Aldrich, and that on Dr. James Cush¬ 
ing Merrill, by Wm. Brewster. 
The following was the programme of papers 
presented at the meeting: 
Tuesday Morning, Dec. 7, 10 O’Clock. 
“In Memoriam Charles Aldrich.” Ruthven 
Deane, Chicago, Ill. 
“At the Sign of the Northern Flicker.” Miss 
Althea R. Sherman. National, Iowa. 
“Development of the Flicker.” Illustrated by 
lantern slides. Wm. L. Baily, Philadelphia, Pa. 
“Sharpe’s Hand-List of Birds.” Dr. J. A. 
Allen, New York city. 
Tuesday Afternoon, 2 O’Clock. 
“The Increase of Austral Birds at Ithaca, N. 
Y.” Illustrated by lantern slides. Albert H. 
Wright and Arthur A. Allen. 
“Response of Wild Birds to Kindness.” Illus¬ 
trated by lantern slides. Herbert K. Job, West 
Haven, Conn. 
“A Bird Photographing Trip in the Caro- 
linas.” B. S. Bowdish. Annotated list of the 
birds observed, compiled by P. B. Philipp. Illus¬ 
trated by lantern slides. 
Wednesday Morning, Dec. 8, 10 O’Clock. 
“Statistical Distribution of the Common Birds 
of Illinois.” Alfred O. Gross, Cambridge, 
Mass. 
“The Tagging of Wild Birds.” Report of 
Progress in 1909. Leon J. Cole, New Haven, 
Conn. 
“Some Notes on the Pinnated Grouse of 
Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.” Illustrated by lan¬ 
tern slides. Geo. W. Field, Boston, Mass. Read 
by E. H. Forbush. 
“Birds of the Blackwater River, Virginia.” 
Illustrated by lantern slides. George Spencer 
Morris, Philadelphia, Pa. 
“The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club— 
A Retrospect and a Prospectus.” Witmer 
Stone, Philadelphia, Pa. 
“Notes Concerning the Status of Franklin’s 
Grouse—With Exhibition of Specimens.” Louis 
Agassiz Fuertes, Ithaca, N. Y. 
“In Memoriam James Cushing Merrill.” 
Wm. Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 
Wednesday Afternoon, 2 O’Clock. 
“Changes of Geographical Distribution in the 
Lake Erie Basin.” Lynds Jones, Oberlin, Ohio. 
“Racket Formation in the Tail-feathers of the 
Motmot.” C. William Beebe, New York city. 
“Notes on an Expedition to British Guiana.” 
Illustrated by lantern slides. C. William Beebe, 
New York city. 
“Present Status of the Passenger Pigeon 
Problem.” C. F. Hodge, Worcester, Mass. 
“Courtship and Wedlaw of Certain Wild 
Fowl.” Ernest Thompson Seton, Cos Cob, 
Conn. 
Thursday Morning Dec. 9, 10 O’Clock. 
“The Method of Migration Study at Cornell.” 
A. H. Wright and A. A. Allen, Ithaca, N. Y. 
“The Willow Grouse of Scandinavia.” Dr. 
Jonathan Dwight, Jr., New York city. 
“Common Birds in Northeastern Illinois.” 
Frank C. Gates, Chicago, Ill. 
“On the Extinction of Birds in this Country.” 
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, Washington, D. C. 
“The Status of some North American Species 
of Birds.” Drs. L. B. Bishop and Jonathan 
Dwight, Jr. 
At the close of Thursday morning session, the 
Congress adjourned. 
The Muskox at. Zoological Park. 
The third muskox that the New York Society 
has had on exhibition at its park in the Bronx 
enjoys the distinction of being the only one of 
that species ever brought from Melville Island. 
Muskox have been captured in Greenland and 
in Ellesmereland, but never before on Melville 
Island. The first muskox exhibited by the New 
York Zoological Society was presented to the 
society by the late Hon. William C. Whitney. 
The muskoxen captured in Greenland were 
taken by Swedish expeditions and were sent to 
Denmark and to Sweden, where it was hoped 
that they might be acclimated and might form 
a useful addition to the domestic fauna of the 
country and were set free in Norway, in a region 
which in topography and flora was as nearly 
as possible like Greenland. They all died in a 
comparatively short time. The first of these 
were taken by Prof. Kolthoff. The present 
specimen was captured by Captain Joseph E. 
Bernier, an explorer in the employ of the Cana¬ 
dian Government, and was purchased through 
Dr. Cecil French for $700, exclusive of shipping 
expenses. The little animal stood the trip of 
6,318 miles without mischance and reached the 
park in excellent health. 
The muskox, which is also sometimes called 
the musksheep, in its systematic position stands 
between the sheep and the oxen—perhaps nearer 
the oxen. It is notable for its immensely long 
coat, the hair on some portions of the body 
being from fifteen to twenty inches long and 
hanging down to the ground about the knees and 
hocks. This coat is dark brown in color with 
a patch of whitish or paler on the forehead and 
a patch of yellowish or whitish on the back, 
which is well shown in the photograph on our 
front cover. 
The very large hoofs are also notable. They 
are separated in the middle, but curve together 
again at the toes and are hollowed out beneath 
like the feet of the caribou. 
Finally the horns, which in the young grow 
from the sides of the head as they do in the 
domestic cattle, grow larger and larger as the 
animal increases in age, and become flattened 
from before backward and draw near to each 
other at the base over the middle line of the 
skull, so that finally they almost cover the top 
of the head. Whitney says that from the sixth 
year onward, the space between the horns is 
only about an inch or an inch and a half 
wide. 
Timber Wolf and Collie. 
The big timber wolf and the collie mongrel 
at the Zoo have had to part company. These 
two animals were pups together and foster 
brothers, and for some three or four years 
they have occupied the same cage and been 
great pals. Recently the wolf nature has shown 
itself in the great timber prowler, and the collie 
has been in danger of his life on several occas¬ 
ions. It has consequently been considered ad¬ 
visable to remove the collie to avoid a tragedy. 
—Shooting Times. 
