Our thanks are tendered to a friend who kindly remembered us with two copies of this work, which we have looked over as carefully as our limited time would admit. Our first search was for something new, but we found it not; we turned to the Snowy Owls, expecting that the author would either prove or disprove Audubon’s story of shore birds at the Falls of the Ohio, or at least have something to say about it, but not a word. It would seem to us that the author did not read the ornithological literature of the day, did not have any wide-awake correspondents in the field, and had but a limited library of reference. We are sorry that he has made such poor use of the State’s money, and yet Doctor J. M. Wharton, the author, states that it has been six years in preparation. The time has been badly spent and he has lost a golden opportunity of doing a good work for the ornithologists of America.
“Wood Ducks.”—We have received an uncolored copy of Mr. Sheppard’s “Wood Ducks,” which is a phototype by F. Gutekunst in the best style of the art, and is from a fine colored drawing by Mr. Sheppard, which we had the pleasure of seeing at the Academy of Natural Science. The Wood Ducks are a beautiful group and very life-like. Our readers will do well to secure a copy of this work at the low price at which uncolored copies are offered.
Doctor Coues Said It.—The Nuttall Bulletin for January opens with a very pretty gossipy article by Dr. Coues, advertising the new edition of his “Key to North American Birds,” which is fast approaching completion. In this article the Dr. “suggests the propriety of calling a Congress of American Ornithologists to discuss, vote upon, and decide each case in which the Doctors disagree.” We have no room to discuss the question in this number, but simply for the present to place it on record, for it is a very important matter. The Doctor compliments the O. and O. through something with a fearful name. We hunted it up, and found it was a bird, and with a lovely English name. Why, Dr., how could you make such a mistake?
Ipswich Sparrows.
On Nov. 21, ’82, I had occasion to go to Ram Island Beach. This is a wide sandy beach some fifty acres in extent, and covered with beach grass, and in some parts with bushes and small cedars. As I was about to leave I saw several sparrows fly up and alight on the cedars, and at the first glance it struck me that they were Ipswich Sparrows, and as if to convince me a Song Sparrow flew up beside one of them, showing off the large size and pale tints of the former very markedly. Having no gun I reluctantly left, but returned in the afternoon, and after some hunting secured all three of them. Two of them measured 6½ inches in length; the 3d 6 in. Since then I have searched the beach over carefully but found no more specimens of Passerculus princeps. Saw flocks of Lesser Redpolls on Dec. 5th and 6th.
Pine Finches were abundant here in the Fall. Mr. Worthington secured sixteen at one shot. Some small boys killed two.—Moses B. Griffing, Shelter Island, N. Y.
Capt. Chas. E. Bendire, U. S. A.
Under date of Dec. 29th we have a long letter from the Captain detailing many of the duties at his new post, which seems so far to quite fully occupy his time; so much so that what spare time he does get is entirely taken up collecting and making specimens, so that instead of writing notes for our readers, he is making them to be used in the future. We will make a few extracts from his letter such as will interest our readers generally: “However with all the drawbacks I am making some headway in my collection, and am getting some good things. I have now catalogued 375 skins since my arrival here, and 300 of these I have made since Sept 1st, besides a great many alcoholic specimens not counted in the above. We are having a mild Winter, the snow is only about a foot deep, when in other seasons it has been three feet deep at this time. Birds are scarce—about twenty species comprise the more common Winter residents. The water birds are too far off for me to trouble them much—the nearest point on the lake is ten miles. I had hoped to find some rare Winter birds and plenty of them as at Camp Harney in ’75 and ’76, but there are very few, and even Owls and Hawks are not near as plenty about the post here as at Walla Walla. I presume the marshes near the lake are full of them, but they are almost impassible. When the lake and marsh freeze over I expect a lot of birds will be driven up toward the post, and by that time very likely there will be so much snow that I cannot get the birds.”
It has been whispered among a few that Captain Bendire was to take up American Oology where the late Dr. Brewer left it, and it is to be earnestly hoped that this will be brought about at no distant day, for the department can well afford to do it as a very large edition would find a ready sale if it was found necessary to sell it, as the department now does the first volume, besides being one of the very few capable of undertaking this work. There was a warm friendship between him and the late Dr. Brewer that the death of the latter has not in the least diminished in the other. For the above reasons Captain Bendire is the one above all others to finish the work so well begun by his friend the late lamented Dr. Brewer.