March, 1920] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



59 



relates some of his interesting field experiences. Of 

 mammals, he gives notes on grizzly bear, hoary 

 marmot, Columbian ground squirrel, little chief 

 hare, bushy-tailed wocdrat or pack-rat, mountain 

 flying squirrel, and Hudson Bay red squirrel. 



Of birds, he gives many interesting notes on the 

 habits of Richardson's grouse, grey ruffed grouse, 

 Franklin's grouse or fool-hen, white-tailed ptarmi- 

 gan, and golden eagle. Though he has written 

 little, Mr. Spreadborough has a keen eye and ear 

 for natural history work, and his wide journeyings 

 into some of the most inaccessible parts of Canada 

 have given him a wide knowledge of the habits of 

 beasts and birds. It is to be hoped that he will put 

 more of his observations on record. 



R. M. Anderson. 



Migrations of the Gray Squirrel (Sciurus 

 carolinensis). By Ernest Thompson Setcn. Tcur- 

 nal of Mammalogy, Vol. I., No. 2, February, 1920, 

 pp. 53-58. Mr. Seton quotes from early accounts 

 of "incredible" migrations before the eastern wooded 

 area was thickly settled. Robert Kennicott records 

 a migration from Canada across the Niagara River 

 into western New York. As corroboration of the 

 high figures given by the old naturalists, from which 

 may be deduced a gray squirrel population of sev- 

 eral billions at one time in the area inhabited bv 

 the species in 1800, Mr. Seton states that recently 

 it was necessary to thin out the gray squirrels in the 

 protected area of Central Park, New York, and 

 300 were shot without making much perceptible 

 difference. That is, there were over 1000 to th: 

 300 acres of timber. "Im my recollection of a 

 squirrel woods in Ontario, 1887, the numbers in 

 Central Park are not to be compared to those in 

 the northern weeds. They were at least three times 

 as numerous in the latter and yet we knew that 

 there were about three to the acre in the park." 



Mr. Seton asks young naturalists to render ser- 

 vice now by interviewing all available old-timers 

 who hunted squirrels in the 60's, and make a record 

 of the time, place, extent, direction, etc., of every 

 emigration that can be traced, together with facts 

 that bear upon the causes and results or that in any 

 way offer interesting light. 



R. M. Anderson. 



The Condor, Vol. XXL, ending Dec, 1919. 

 During the past year there has appeared in this 

 publication the following papers and articles of in- 

 terest to Canadian readers: 



P. 42, Sapsuckers and Hummingbirds, a short 

 note by H. H. Mitchell, Provincial Museum, Re- 

 gina, Sask. In this is described the visits of at least 

 seven Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that successive- 



ly came to drink sap flowing from the drilling made 

 by a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in a birch tree. 



Pp. 57-60. Notes on the Breeding Habits of the 

 Red Crossbill in the Okanagan Valley, British 

 Columbia, by J. A. Munro, Okanagan Landing, 

 B.C. This is an in'eresting paper on a little kn:wn 

 subject. The author states that he secured specimens 

 "which plainly show reversion from the yellow 

 plumage to the red," thus giving evidence supporting 

 the much disputed vi-ew that the red plumage is 

 not the livery of the most mature birds. 



Pp. 80-86. The Summer Birds of Hazelton, 

 British Columbia, by P. A. Taverner, Geclogical 

 Survey, Ottawa. This is an annotated list of 69 

 species noted or collected, in the summer of 1917, 

 at Hazelton, on the Grand Trunk Pacific at its 

 most northern point in British Columbia, by Wm. 

 Spreadborough and the author. 



Pp. 91-92. Letter by Mr. A. B. Howell, con- 

 tinuing the discussion started by Mr. Taverner's use 

 of binomials. 



P. 124. Mr. J. H. Fleming, of Toronto, has a 

 note giving measurements and descriptions of Trump- 

 eter Swans from California, the St. Clair Flats, 

 Mich., and the State of Washington. Mainly de- 

 tails of a specimen in the British Museum, supple- 

 mentary to its citation in The Game Birds of 

 California. 



Pp. 175. Editorial notice of the departure 

 May 14th, of a zoological collecting expedition from 

 the Muzeum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of 

 California, into Alaska and British Columbia, en- 

 tering in the vicinity of Wrangell to proceed up the 

 Stikine River to the neighborhood of Telegraph 

 Creek. The party was composed of Mr. Harry S. 

 Swar'h, Curatcr of Birds in the museum and Mr. 

 Joseph Dixon, Economic Mammalogist, and local 

 assistants. It m.ay here be noted that they returned 

 in October with a large collection of important ma- 

 terial. The expedition and the report that is 

 planned to be published on its results was made 

 possible through the financial interest of Miss Annie 

 Alexander who has done so much to further zoo- 

 logical investigation on the Alaskan and British 

 Columbian coast. It is well recognized in Cali- 

 fornia, more perhaps, than anywhere else in this 

 country that it is impossible to truly understand 

 local zoological problems without studying adjacent 

 extralimital territory. 



Pp. 222-225. Bird Notes from Saskatchewan, 

 by Mr. H. H. Mitchell, with three photographic 

 illustrations. This consists of annotations on sev- 

 eral species of birds. Brewer's Sparrow was found 

 in some numbers in the valley of the Frenchman 

 river, taken June 16, 1919, and fairly common be- 

 tween Eastend and Ravenscrag. Specimens identi- 



