132 



Bird - Lore 



Food Habits of Grosbeaks. By W. L. 

 McAtee, Assistant Biological Survey, 

 Bulletin No 32; Bureau of Biological 

 Survey, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, 1908. 8vo. 

 92 pages, 4 plates, 3 colored, 40 text 

 figures. 



The methods by which the vast amounts 

 of data given in this paper were acquired, 

 the manner in which they are arranged, 

 and the judgment shown in their form of 

 presentation and illustration from the 

 book-makers point of view, are above 

 criticism. We have space here only for 

 Mr. McAfee's conclusion: "The five 

 Grosbeaks studied consume, on the aver- 

 age, nine times more weed seed than grain 

 and fruit. Moreover, they devour nineteen 

 times more injurious than useful insects. 

 Consequently, since their subsistence is 

 about half animal and half vegetable, their 

 food habits are about fourteen times more 

 beneficial than injurious." — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The April number of 'The 

 Auk' opens with a paper by Mr. C. C. 

 Adams on 'The Ecological Succession of 

 Birds.' It is a philosophical treatise of 

 considerably more volume than substance, 

 for old ideas concerning the struggle for 

 existence are here so tricked out in the 

 modern finery of biological language that 

 they fairly dazzle the eye and bewilder the 

 brain. We can agree with the writer that 

 "environmental evolution and biotic suc- 

 cession are of great value," but we con- 

 fess to a feeling of doubt when he tells us 

 "It is quite probable that one of the main 

 conditions which prevents a more rapid 

 advance along evolutionary lines is in a 

 large measure due to the almost utter 

 failure to analyze dynamically environ- 

 mental complexes!" 



Mr. Wm. L. Dawson has a paper on the 

 'Bird Colonies of the Olympiades,' rocky 

 islets ofi the coast of Washington which 

 are now set apart as bird preserves with 

 an estimated population of 100,000; 

 Messrs. Beyer, Allison and Kopman con- 

 tinue their list of the birds of Louisiana; 

 Mr. H. G. Smith has extensive notes on the 



birds of Colorado; and Mr. E. Seymour 

 Woodruff presents 'A Preliminary List 

 of the Birds of Shannon and Carter coun- 

 ties, Missouri' with accompanying map. 

 Mr. Woodruff is to be congratulated on so 

 concise an account of the fauna of a rather 

 inaccessible part of the state. We only 

 regret seeing new scientific names for 

 some of our common birds for we believe 

 in the temporary stability attained by 

 sticking to old names until the American 

 Ornithologists' Union's Nomenclature 

 Committee sanctions new ones. 



More Auduboniana is furnished by Mr. 

 R. Deane who has already been the 

 source of much valuable historical mater- 

 ial gleaned from old letters and docu- 

 ments. He also contributes an account of 

 'The Passenger Pigeon {Ectopistas migra- 

 torius) in Confinement,' which is a fitting 

 obituary notice of the last survivors of a 

 bird that in Audubon's time, and much 

 later, darkened the sky in countless multi- 

 tudes. The passing of the Pigeon is unique, 

 so far as we know, in the annals of orni- 

 thology, although other birds have met 

 or will meet its deplorable fate. 



The general notes show active field 

 work on the part of a large number of 

 careful observers and the reviews show 

 ornithological activitv the world over. — 

 J. D., Jr. 



The Condor. — \'olume X of 'The 

 Condor,' which began in January, con- 

 tains 56 pages in its initial number (practi- 

 cally a double number) replete with inter- 

 esting articles and notes. Among the 

 papers most likely to attract the attention 

 of the general reader are Finley's Life 

 History of the California Condor,' Part II, 

 containing the most complete resume of 

 the history and range of the bird thus far 

 pubhshed, and Dawson's description of 

 'The New Reserves on the Washington 

 Coast,' Three groups of rocky islands 

 between Cape Flattery and Copalis Rock 

 were set aside as bird refuges by executive 

 orders on Oct. 23, 1907 (See Bird-Lore, 

 IX, pp. 292-294, 1907). For these islands, 

 designated as the Flattery Rocks, Quillay- 

 ute Needles, and Copalis Rock reserva- 



