148 Bird -Lore ments to the Check-List (1889-1899), varying in size from about 8 to 36 pages. ' The Auk, ' issued quarterly, consists on the average of about 420 pages per year, with at least four fine colored plates, and a greater or less number of text figures, including of late numerous half-tone illustrations of birds in life. As practically all of the funds of the Union are devoted to its publications, and mainly to 'The Auk,' its prosperity as regards its size, the frequency and character of its illustrations, and its influence in promoting the study of ornithology, is limited only by the proceeds from memberships and subscriptions As it aims to meet the interests and the necessities of both the scientific and the non-scientific reader and contributor, the .general articles, comprising more than half of each number, are about equally divided between popular and technical papers, while its department of Gen- eral Notes (embracing some 15 pages in each number), is about equally acceptable to both classes, as with more or less technical matter for the benefit of the expert are blended notes on the habits and distribution of the lesser known species of our fauna, often of a highly popular character. The department of Recent Literature gives more or less extended notices of the current literature of ornithology, including general works, popular and technical, and of all the principal writings relating to American birds, whether faunal, economic, popular, or technical. The meetings of the Union occur in November of each year, and heretofore have been held alternately in New York, Washington, and Cambridge or Boston. The present year the meeting, which will be the seventeenth congress of 'the Union, will be held in Philadelphia, Nov. 13-17, 1899. As usual, the public sessions, beginning on the 14th, will be open to the general public, to which all who are interested in birds are cordially invited.
