Book News and Reviews 



36S 



numbers on their breeding-grounds. Sev- 

 eral notes are contributed by H. F. Lewis 

 of Quebec. This year (1920) he found the 

 nest of the Willet in Nova Scotia where the 

 species has probably bred continuously in 

 small numbers since the early days. This 

 writer also suggests the possibility that 

 migration routes of Ruby-crowned King- 

 lets may be followed through a study of 

 their song variation. Shufeldt calls atten- 

 tion to changing nesting habits of the 

 House Sparrow. C. G. Andrus, a Weather 

 Bureau observer at Lansing, Mich., gives 

 data on the height and speed of a flight of 

 birds, not identified, though very likely 

 Ducks. There is dearth of definite data 

 on this subject in ornithology and the note 

 illustrates how chance will sometimes turn 

 the technique of one science to the advan- 

 tage of another. — J.T.N. 



The Condor. — The July and Septem- 

 ber numbers of The Condor contain an 

 unusually interesting series of articles on 

 western ornithology. The July number 

 opens with an excellent sketch, by H. S. 

 Swarth, of Frank Slater Daggett, Director 

 of the Museum of History, Science, and 

 Art, of Los Angeles, who died April 5, 

 1920. A portrait and a bibliography of 

 thirty-nine titles accompany the article. 

 Bassett describes the 'Variations in the 

 Song of the Golden-crowned Sparrow' as 

 he has heard them in California, and Wet- 

 more gives the results of 'Observations on 

 the Habits of the White- winged Dove along 

 the Gila River in Maricopa County, Ariz., 

 in June, 1919. Claims of damage by Doves 

 are frequently made because wheat is 

 found in the birds' crops. "Observations 

 of the feeding birds, however, soon showed 

 that all save a very small part of the grain 

 was waste gleaned from the stubble." Wil- 

 lett, who has published several articles on 

 the birds of Forrester Island, Alaska, 

 based on field work in 1914-17, is now 



able, as a result of observations made in 

 the summer of 1919, to add the Slender- 

 billed Shearwater, American Merganser, 

 and Dwarf Hermit Thrush to the list of 

 birds previously known from the island. 

 Taylor describes 'A New Ptarmigan from 

 Mount Rainier' as Lagopus leucurus rain- 

 ierensis, and Grinnell separates the Brewer 

 Blackbird of California as a distinct sub- 

 species under the name Enphagus cyano- 

 ccphalus minusculus, selecting as the type 

 a winter bird collected at Palo Alto, 

 January 26, 1901. 



Two of the articles in the September 

 number deal with birds of the National 

 Parks and two with those of Alaska. 

 Skinner contributes a paper on 'The Pink- 

 sided Junco' in the Yellowstone and 

 Milicent H. Lee some 'Notes on a Few 

 Birds of the Grand Canyon, Arizona,' as 

 observed on an early June morning at the 

 Indian Gardens on the Bright Angel Trail. 

 Hanna publishes some 'New and Interest- 

 ing Records of Pribilof Island Birds,' in 

 Behring Sea, Alaska, accompanied by a 

 table showing the birds which breed on 

 each of the islands in this group. The list 

 of breeding birds now includes 20 species, 

 of which only 4 are land-birds. As a result 

 of experiences in 191 1 and 191 2 Dice fur- 

 nishes a series of 'Notes on Some Birds of 

 Interior Alaska.' The list includes com- 

 ments on 86 species, of which only 28 are 

 water- and shore-birds and 58 land-birds. 

 One of the most important articles is that 

 by Wet more on 'The Function of Powder- 

 downs in Herons.' From observations 

 made on a Treganza Great Blue Heron, 

 kept in captivity, and later on the Snowy 

 Heron, Black-crowned Heron, and Bit- 

 tern, he failed to substantiate reports that 

 the tracts were luminous but found that 

 before the oil-gland develops they furnish 

 an oily substance which is used by the bird 

 in dressing its feathers. — T. S. P. 



