20 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



of their work are often a thorn in the side, until we 

 become sufficiently calloused to ignore them. Tav- 

 erner is a radical, and realizes that varietal differ- 

 ences are not always items of the highest import- 

 ance and goes on his way in blissful carelessness 

 of what some other members of the ornithological 

 world may think or say of his conclusions. It is 

 thus that progress is made, and the present writer 

 finds it difficult, or impossible (?) to criticize such 

 an attitude severely, being too strongly tinctured 

 with that same spirit of radicalism himself. 



One evident lack in the preparations for the trip, 

 was the providing of a pair of competent listening 

 ears, for while the sight records of the party are 

 beyond criticism, there are omissions which a pair 

 of good ears might have prevented. Sprague's 

 skylark, for instance, probably delivered its song 

 within hearing, dozens of times, before the bird 

 was added to the list at Camp No. I 1 , while the 

 Yellow rail lives in most favorable marshes in the 

 district traversed, and needed only to be listened 

 for, to be added. 



What the party may have lacked in this regard 

 was fully made up by the keen diligence with 

 which the objects of the expedition were pursued, 

 and the members are to be congratulated on the 

 results obtained. 



One must not forget to mention the photographs 

 with which the report is illuminated. To take 

 such views, one needs a keen artistic sense as we!! 

 as an accurate knowledge of the capabilities of 

 the camera, and both of these the author has with 

 him on the spot, and used them with the very best 

 results. Seldom indeed, is an article read which 

 is illustrated with pictures of such beauty, and 

 which, at the same time, convey to the mind such 

 a clear perception of the country explored. 



As a whole, the paper makes a fine starting 

 point for the further study of the birds of that 

 part of Alberta. 



W. E. Saunders. 



In the Aul( for July, 1919, are the following 

 titles of Canadian interest: 



Some Notes on the Drumming of the 

 Ruffed Grouse, by H. E. T. Trotter, pp. 325- 

 339. This recounts personal experience with, and 

 the study of, the drumming of this species and is an 

 important and interesting contribution to a question 

 that has long been of interest and an object of con- 

 siderable controversy amongst observers. 



The Singing Tree, or how near to the nest 

 do the male birds sing? by H. Mousley, of 

 Hatley, Que., pp. 339-348. This is an account of 

 the methods pursued by this notable warbler nest- 

 finder. The substance of the article is that the 



male bird has usually a regular habit of singing from 

 a favorite perch, as a rule within twenty yards of the 

 nest. The discovery of a bird habitually singing 

 through the nesting season from a certain point 

 considerably limits the area to be searched for in 

 finding the nest. By carefully watching this area 

 centered on the "singing tree" Mr. Mousley has 

 probably found more warbler nests in the past few 

 years than any one else in an equal time in Can- 

 ada. The article is a valuable contribution to field 

 methods and to our knowledge of bird habits and 

 should be read by all interested in the field study 

 of birds. 



In Notes on North American Birds, pp. 406- 

 408, Harry C. Oberholser concludes that our Am- 

 erican Pipit should be reduced to a subspecies of 

 the Old World Anthus spinoleita and should be 

 called Anthus spinoleita rubescens. He also pleads 

 for the recognition, not at present accorded it, of 

 the Kennicott Willow Warbler as a subspecies of 

 Acanthopneuste borealis. 



In General Notes, under the title of 



The Generic Name of the Gannets, p. 417, 

 Harry C. Oberholser recommends the adoption of 

 Mathew's proposal to split the genus Sula but fol- 

 lowing the Code of Nomenclature of the A.O.U. 

 decides contrary to him that the name Moris is the 

 proper term for the division including our Gannets. 

 Sula bassana would thus become Moris bassana. 



The Status of the Genus Archibuteo, p. 

 420, the same author, states that further investigation 

 induces him to agree with Hartert's proposal to 

 unite this genus with Buieo as in the feathering of 

 the tarsus, the most important character of Archi- 

 buteo, it intergrades with it. He, therefore, recom- 

 mends that Archibuteo be reduced to subgeneric 

 rank or dropped altogether in which case our two 

 species would stand as Buteo lagopus sancti- 

 johannes, American Rough-legged Hawk, and 

 Buteo ferrugineus, Ferugineus Rough-legged 

 Hawk. p. A. Taverner. 



Publications of the American Museum of 

 Natural History. The Ottawa Public Library 

 recently received for the Field-Naturalists' Club, 

 the following three books, from the American 

 Museum of Natural History: 



"Illustrations of the North American species of 

 the Genus Catocala." 



"The Indigenous Land Mammals of Porto Rico, 

 Living and Extinct." 



"Equidae of the OHgocene, Miocene, and Plio- 

 cene of North America, Inconographic Type Re- 

 vision." 



These memoirs have been placed with the P^ield- 

 Naturalists' collecjii.^aL.|nay be examined on ap- 

 plication. 



