March, 1922.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



53 



south. The bird has also suffered considerably 

 from its contact with settlement, as would be 

 expected of a large palatable bird so easy to 

 approach in its breeding season. Its individual 

 expectancy of life and the relative number of 

 very old specimens in proportion to population 

 have become considerably reduced in these 

 northern areas. It is to be expected that the 

 average of specimens collected today in this 

 section would measure smaller than in more south- 

 ern areas where there are large expanses where 

 man has interfered with it less. On the present 

 evidence it seems the course of wisdom at least 

 to suspend judgment upon the status of these 

 races of Curlew. 



Notes on some Specimens in the Ornithological 

 Collection of the California .Academy of Sciences. 

 By Joseph Mailliard, pp. 28-32. 



Consisting of notes and descriptions of 

 specimens of nineteen species. The most interest- 

 ing of these, in the light of the questioned specific 

 identity of the Little Brown Crane, are series of 

 measurements of ten Little Brown and eight 

 Sandhill Cranes. There is no overlapping amongst 

 them shown. 



In From Field and Study: 



Distribution of Townsend Fox Sparrow. By 

 George Willett, pp. 36-37. 



Re Swarth's Revision of the Fox Sparrows 

 reviewed in these pages previously, Mr. Willett 

 states that Passerella iliaca townsendi commonly 

 winters as well as breeds at the southern end of 

 the Alexander Archipelago, a fact that should 

 somewhat modify some of Mr. Swarth's conclu- 

 sions expressed in the above work. 



No. 2, March April. 



The Priblof Sandpiper. By G. Dallas Hanna, 

 pp. 50-57. 



An account of the habits and nesting of this 

 rare bird. One plate showing the eggs. 



The Sitkan Race of the Dusky Grouse. By 

 H. S. Swarth., pp. 59-60. 



Describing a new sub-species, Dendragopus 

 obscurus sitkensis. It has been suspected for 

 some time that the Blue Grouse of the northern 

 coast was distinct from fuliginosus but lack of 

 material has hitherto deterred designation. The 

 principal character is an increased redness of 

 color. The specimens cited come mostly from 

 the islands of the Alaska pan-handle from Sitka 

 to Wrangell Island. Probably the race extends 

 south to the Queen Charlotte Islands, specimens 

 from which have long attracted attention to this 

 same character. 



In From Field and Study: 



A Record for the Emperor Goose in Oregon. 

 By Alex. Walker, p. 65. 



Announces the taking of a specimen on the 

 ocean beach at Hetarts, Tillamook County, 

 Oregon, Dec. 31, 1920. This suggests that 

 stragglers may be still looked for along the British 

 Columbia Coast. 



An Afternoon with Holboell Grebe. By 

 A. D. Henderson, pp. 68-69. 



Describes the bird diving with young on its 

 back at Silvermore Lake, Alta. 



No. 3, May June. 



The Probable Status of the Pacific Coast 

 Skuas. By A. C. Bent, pp. 78-80. 



The great difficulty of obtaining specimens 

 of pelagic birds and the fact that most of them 

 breed on lonely oceanic islands in the southern 

 hemisphere very difficult of access, has prevented 

 our knowledge of them keeping pace with that of 

 more easily studied species. With new light 

 thrown on these birds through the recent work of 

 Beck and others, Mr. Bent has re-examined some 

 of the western material and announces that 

 California specimens in the California Academy 

 of Sciences can be referred to the Chilean Skua, 

 Catharacta chilensis, thus adding a new species to 

 the North American List. By inference he refers 

 Megalestris skua, reported in the Condor, 1918, 

 taken at sea near the boundary between British 

 Columbia and Washington waters, as the same. 

 This will cause a change in our West Coast list, 

 the elimination of the Skua and the addition of 

 the Chilean Skua. 



New Bird Records for North America, with 

 Notes on the Priblof Island List. By Joseph 

 Mailliard and G. Dallas Hanna., pp. 93-95. 



This gives notes on the occurrence of seven 

 species in these far-flung islands and adds two to 

 the North American List. 



In From Field and Study: 



Notes on the Hypothetical List of California 

 Birds. By J. H. Fleming, pp. 95-96. 



Mr. Fleming discusses the cases of three species 

 hypothetically included in the California list on 

 the basis of specimens in the British Museum. 

 The species in question are Woodcock, Hudsonian 

 Godwit and Arizona Cardinal. Having had 

 opportunity to examine these specimens, Novem- 

 ber, 1920, he decides they will have to be disre- 

 garded through insufficient evidence as to the 

 place of their origin. 



No. 4, July August. 

 Genera and Species. By Richard McGregor, 

 pp. 127-129. 



This is a restrained and moderate but very 

 cogent protest against the immoderate subdivision 

 of the generic conception, seconding Dr. Witmer 

 Stone's plea, Science, Vol. 51, 1920, p. 427, for 



