270 



Bird - Lore 



and their nests. \Vc tan also enjoy a 

 pleasant account of 'A Nesting of the 

 Blue-winged Warbler in Massachusetts,' 

 by Mr. H. W. Wright. 



'An Inquiry into the History of the 

 Current English Names of North American 

 Land Birds,' by Dr. S. Trotter, shows us 

 the probable origin of many popular 

 names. Dr. Trotter, among other things, 

 truly says that "a respectable antiquity 

 attaches itself to the vernacular," and in 

 this connection it may be noted that Dr. 

 J. A. Allen, in a recent number of 'Science,' 

 goes even farther and advocates the use 

 of a vernacular name in certain cases to 

 determine the type of a genus. Thus it 

 may even come to pass that the vernacular 

 sword of the down-trodden amateur will 

 be mightier than the Latin pen of the 

 proud and haughty expert! 



Mr. E. Blackwelder furnishes an anno- 

 tated list of the 'Summer Birds of Iron 

 county, Michigan,' and Mr. Sidney S. S. 

 Stansell one on the 'Birds of Centra! 

 Alberta.' It would be interesting to know 

 if the Solitary Sandpiper of Alberta may 

 not prove to be the western race, cinna- 

 momeus. 'The Birds of Colorado — Third 

 Supplement,' by Mr. W. W. Cooke, and 

 'The Singular Case of the Black Duck 

 of North America,' by Dr. J. Dwight, Jr., 

 com])!ete the list of papers. 



The usual goodly list of Notes and 

 Reviews conclude the volume, which has 

 twenty-eight pages of index. — J. D. J. 



The Condor. — Of the eight articles in 

 the July number of 'The Condor,' all but 

 three arc devoted to nesting habits of 

 various birds. Among the general papers 

 the principal one is 'An Annotated List 

 of the Birds of the Barr Lake District,' 

 Colorado, by Hersey and Rockwell. 

 Brief notes arc given on 205 species of 

 birds which have been observed in this 

 region, 19 miles northeast of Denver. In 

 a brief paper, Grinnell gives three definite 

 records of 'The Little Brown Crane in 

 California;' one specimen was obtained at 

 Newport, Orange county, ten or twelve 

 years ago, and two others were purchased 

 in the Los Angeles market, March 21, 1904. 



Under the title 'Notes on the Birds of Los 

 Coronados Islands, Lower California,' 

 Osburn mentions 34 species observed in 

 the spring of 1908. Dr. T. W. Richards, 

 I'. S. N., describes the nesting of the 

 Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses on 

 Midway Islands, where the breeding sea- 

 son begins in November; and A. M. Inger- 

 soll describes in some detail 'The Only 

 Known Breeding Ground of Creciscus 

 colurniculus (California Black Rail),' near 

 San Diego, where three sets of eggs have 

 been found. Mailliard presents a few 

 notes on the 'Nest of the California Bi- 

 colored Blackbird;' Willard describes the 

 'Nesting of the Arizona J unco,' in the 

 Huachuca mountains, Arizona; and Mrs. 

 Harriet W. Myers contributes an inter- 

 esting paper on the 'Nesting Habits of the 

 Rufous - crowned Sparrow,' near Los 

 Angeles. This last article merits especial 

 attention as an illustration of one kind of 

 field work which will yield valuable re- 

 sults without recourse to libraries or mu- 

 seums. 



Of the six articles in the September 

 number, three are general and three de- 

 voted to nesting habits. Oilman tells of 

 'Some Owls along the Gila River in 

 Arizona,' where six species were observed 

 in 1908 and 1909; Wetmore contributes 

 "Fall Notes from Eastern Kansas' on 74 

 species of birds found on Washington 

 creek, near Lawrence, during the month of 

 September in 1907 and 1908; and Sheldon 

 adds 'Notes on Some 57 Species of Birds 

 of Kern county.' Oilman also contributes 

 some 'Nesting Notes on the Lucy Warbler,' 

 made at various points along the Gila 

 river during the last two seasons. In 

 'Clifl-Climbing for Prairie Falcon Eggs,' 

 Richards describes the method of collect- 

 ing a set of eggs in an almost inaccessible 

 cliff near Littleton, Colorado. Osburn's 

 account of 'The Nesting of the Herrmann 

 Gull,' is of special interest as the breeding 

 grounds of this bird along the Mexican 

 coast have long been sought. In the spring 

 of 1 909 a colony composed of 31 pairs of 

 breeding birds was found occupying a 

 remote rock off the coast of Jalisco, Mex- 

 ico, in latitude 18° north. — T. S. P. 



