I20 



Bird - Lore 



birds, and 'Notes on the Florida Gallinule 

 {Gallinula galeata) in Philadelphia County, 

 Pa.' by Richard F. Miller, shows the 

 difl&culties with which nesting birds have 

 to cope, as their haunts are encroached 

 upon by the advance of civilization. 



An article on 'Birds Observed in Sas- 

 katchewan during the summer of 1909,' 

 by the late Mr. John F. Ferry, is a well 

 illustrated and carefully annotated list of 

 over one hundred of the species found on 

 the prairies of western Canada. Other 

 lists are 'Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds 

 of Washtenaw County, Michigan,' by 

 Messrs. N. A. Wood and A. D. Tinker; 

 'Bird Notes from Salida, Chafee County, 

 Colorado,' by Edward B. Warren, and 'A 

 List of Birds observed at Ashland, Vir- 

 ginia,' by Mr. C. G. Embody. An 'Appar- 

 ently New Species of Carrion Hawk of the 

 Genus Ibyder,' from Patagonia, is described 

 by Mr. W. E. D. Scott. 



In the department of 'General Notes' 

 will be found a number of records of 

 unusual interest, and the reviews concern 

 some important books. A list of the 

 members of the A. O. U. concludes this 

 number, and it may be well to call the 

 attention of those who bind their 'Auks' to 

 the fact that this list takes the place of the 

 one that used to appear in the October 

 number. ^ — J. D., Jr. 



The Condor.— Vol. XII of 'The Con- 

 dor' opens with the fourth part of Finley's 

 'Life History of the California Condor,' 

 the first instalment of which appeared 

 in the number for November, 1906. The 

 present part, illustrated with six excellent 

 half-tones, deals with the habits of the 

 young bird in captivity. The 'Fossil Birds 

 from the Quaternary of Southern Cali- 

 fornia,' in the Museum of the University 

 of California, are briefly described by 

 Loye Holmes Miller, who calls attention 

 to the preponderance of raptorial birds 

 and the presence of a true peacock, a 

 black vulture, and a peculiar raptorial 

 genus, Teratornis, represented by a form 

 much larger than any flying birds of the 

 present time. Oology receives due atten- 

 tion in Ingersoll's illustrated account of 



'Abnormal Birds' Eggs,' and Ray's 'De- 

 fense of Oology.' Pemberton adds 'Some 

 Bird Notes from Ventura County,' relating 

 to eight species, and Warren contributes 

 an extended paper on 'Some Central 

 Colorado Bird Notes' on 127 species. 

 This last paper is a welcome change from 

 the others in being free from the peculiari- 

 ties of spelling which mar so many pages 

 of the magazine, a concession for which 

 the editor considers an apology necessary. 

 'For the Better Determination of Agelaius 

 tricolor' Mailliard gives a few notes and 

 illustrations of wings, and for the benefit 

 of students of distribution Grinnell pub- 

 lishes some 'Miscellaneous Records from 

 Alaska' on 35 species. 



Of the half-dozen articles in the March 

 number, three are devoted to nesting habits. 

 Peck describes 'The Effect of Natural 

 Enemies on the Nesting Habits of Some 

 British Honduras Birds;' Willard writes 

 of the 'Nesting of the Western Evening 

 Grosbeak' in the Huachuca Mountains, 

 Arizona, and Pingree tells briefly of 'The 

 Nesting of the Frazar Oyster-catcher, in 

 1909, on the Tres Marias Islands, Jalisco, 

 Mexico.' 'The Status of the California 

 Bicolored Blackbird' is discussed by 

 Mailliard; 'The Habits of the Black-Capt 

 Vireo' in Blaine County, Oklahoma, are 

 described by Bunker, and an interesting 

 ' Glimpse of Bird Life on the West Coast 

 of Mexico,' near San Bias, is given by 

 Lamb. 



But the most striking feature in these 

 two numbers is the rapid molt which cer- 

 tain bird names are undergoing as a result 

 of the policy on which 'The Condor' has 

 'embarkt.' Eight new bob-tailed names 

 are suddenly introduced: The Russet- 

 backt (p. 16) and Olive-backt Thrushes 

 (p. 43), the Black-capt Vireo (p. 70), 

 the White-rumpt Swallow (p. 78), the 

 Gray Ruft Grouse (p. 42), the Black- 

 neckt Stilt (p. 76), and the Ring-neckt 

 Duck (p. 79). 'Douts' may well be 'ex- 

 prest' whether such 'markt' editorial 

 idiosyncrasies do more than add a pecu- 

 liar grotesqueness from which both authors 

 and readers would gladly be spared, if 

 their wishes were consulted. — T. S. P. 



