Proceedings of the Fifty-third Annual Meeting.

At the invitation of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, the New Jersey Audubon Society, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Fifty-third Annual Meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Society was held at Cape May, New Jersey, from Thursday 15 June, through Sunday, 18 June 1972. Early arrivals at Cape May were invited to a reception at the Wetlands Institute on the causeway between Stone Harbor and the mainland on Thursday afternoon. The Institute is about two miles from the Stone Harbor heronry, which many participants visited on their return to Cape May. Thursday evening in the Convention Hall, William E. Parker showed motion pictures which included birds photographed at the New Jersey shore and at recent Wilson meetings. On Friday evening Merrill Cottrell presented a well recieved slide show, “New Jersey’ s Natural Assets.” An impromptu showing of a new film “Everybody’ s Eagle” was presented by its producer George Allez later Friday evening. The annual banquet was held on Saturday evening at the Colonial Hotel. Following the President’ s Address, the group adjourned to the Convention Hall for a premier showing of a new Audubon Wildlife Film, “Serengeti Safari” by Donald S. Heintzelman. Throughout the meeting, paintings of North American waterfowl by William Zimmerman were on display in the Colonial Hotel. Ornithologists visiting the Cape May peninsula were attracted to the famous breeding colony of herons and Glossy Ibis at Stone Harbor, and the beach and salt meadowland nesting colonies of gulls, plovers, terns, and skimmers. Early morning trips were held Friday and Saturday to Cape May Point. Also scheduled during the meeting for those not attending the paper sessions was a beach walk, a plant walk, and a walking tour of historic Cape May. The Sunday boat trip was washed out by the advance rains of Hurricane Agnes, but trips to the Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge and to the Osprey colonies were held. The recipients of the Wilson Society prizes were announced at the annual banquet by First Vice-President Parkes as follows: Louis Agassiz Fuertes Award: Donald E. Kroodsma, Oregon State University-Demes, dialects, and dispersal in the Bewick’ s Wren. Margaret M. Nice Award: Mrs. Rebecca L. Radcliffe, Bloomfield Hills, MichiganForty-year comparison study of nesting and migratory birds of Cranbrook Campus, Oakland County, Michigan. Ernest P. Edwads Prize: First Prize, Mrs. Frances C. James, Fayetteville, ArkansasOrdinations of habitat relationships among breeding birds. Second Prize, Anthony J. Erskine, Ottawa, Ontario-Some new perspectives on the breeding ecology of Common Grackles. Alexander Wilson Prize: W. Jon Richardson, Cornell University-Spring migration over Puerto Rico: A radar study.