300 



Bird - Lore 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The Jul}^ number of 

 'The Condor' may fairly be termed a 

 Rocky Mountain number since three of 

 the five general articles and the only review 

 are devoted to the birds of this region. 

 In the opening article Mrs. Bailey gives, 

 in her usual graceful style, an account of 

 the characteristic 'Birds of the Cotton- 

 wood Groves' near Glorieta and the 

 Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, and in the 

 Conejos River bottoms in Colorado. 

 Another instalment of the interesting 

 series of papers on the bird life of the 

 Barr Lake region, near Denver, is con- 

 tained in 'Notes on the Wading Birds,' 

 made by R. B. Rockwell and L. J. Hersey, 

 and illustrated by thirteen photographs. 

 Nine species are treated briefly and nine 

 at length. One of the most interesting 

 records is that of the nesting of Wilson's 

 Snipe on June 20, 1908, at Barr, a point 

 within the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



The bird life of Colorado as a whole is 

 discussed by Prof. W. W. Cooke in a 

 formal review of W. L. Sclater's recent 

 'History of the Birds of Colorado,' which 

 is characterized as "among the very best 

 of the State bird lists," and in a special 

 article on 'The Present Status of the 

 Colorado Check-List of Birds.' The 

 lists of Cooke, 1909, and Sclater, 191 2, 

 are compared and the discrepancies 

 explained in detail. In conclusion, Cooke 

 maintains that Sclater's list of 395 species 

 should be reduced by the subtraction of 

 7 doubtful species and increased by the 

 addition of 15 others. "This makes a 

 Colorado list of 403 species about which 

 there cannot be much question." 



The only papers on California birds are 

 Ray's account of the species noted in 

 1910 during a 'Journey to the Star Lake 

 Country,' in the Lake Tahoe region, and 

 Bryant's 'Present and Future Status of 

 the California Valley Quail.' The latter 

 article is a careful study of the various 

 factors affecting the present abundance 

 of the species, considered under six heads: 

 food, cover, enemies, disease, weather and 

 hunters. A map based on reports from 



deputy game wardens shows the relative 

 abundance of Quail at various points 

 in the state in January, 191 2. This paper 

 merits careful reading by all who are 

 interested in the subject from the stand- 

 point of geographic distribution or game 

 protection. The author concludes that 

 food-supply is the most important of the 

 factors mentioned, that natural enemies 

 are of little consequence, and that there 

 is little immediate danger from disease. 

 The hunter has in recent years become a 

 very important factor and his destruc- 

 tiveness should be curbed by reasonable 

 bag limits and by an open season limited 

 to the months of November and Decem- 

 ber.— T. S. P. 



Book News 



We learn from 'The Ibis' for July that, 

 with the issue of the October, 191 2, num- 

 ber, concluding the ninth series and fifty- 

 fourth year of that journal. Dr. Philip 

 Lutley Sclater will resign the editorial 

 duties, which either alone, or in associa- 

 tion with Salvin, Saunders, or Evans, he 

 has borne for forty-two years, and will be 

 succeeded by his son William Lutley 

 Sclater, well known to American ornitholo- 

 gists as the author of the 'Birds of Colo- 

 rado.' 



The Biological Survey issues, as Far- 

 mers' Bulletin No. 510, its annual sum- 

 mary of the game laws and of the pro- 

 visions relating to seasons, shipments, 

 sale of game, licenses, etc. As an official 

 document of wide general interest the 

 press throughout the country gives much 

 space to abstracts of this publication and 

 the information it contains is thus brought 

 prominently to the attention of the public. 



Bird students who visit the island of 

 Jamaica will be glad to know of an excel- 

 lent list of the birds of the island by Dr. 

 P. L. Sclater, which was published in the 

 'Handbook of Jamaica for 1910.' It lists 

 194 species, of which 99 are permanent 

 residents, 52 winter visitants, and 43 

 occasional visitors. 



