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Bird- Lore 



marks are not explained, they are somewliat 

 unintelligible. After all, birds* songs are 

 seldom a success when reduced to printer's 

 ink. 



Much space is given to technical articles, 

 one on "The Pterylosis of Podargus, with 

 Notes on the Pterylography of the Capri - 

 mulgi," deserving particular mention. De- 

 scriptions of new subspecies take up a 

 number of pages, especially the republica- 

 tion of those scattered in other journals, 

 and here brought together with critical 

 notes by Dr. J. A. Allen. It is to be 

 hoped some forms will not survive the tri- 

 bunal of the A. O. U. committee, for just 

 now we seem to be approaching a point 

 where, having exhausted the possibilities of 

 series of specimens from adjacent farms, we 

 shall soon be driven to recognize north light 

 and south light races, according to the 

 rooms in which they are studied. This is 

 no fling at careful work, but describing is 

 a line of least resistance and attracts many 

 who see differences so minute that they can- 

 •not be intelligibly expressed by words. 



Mr. R. H. Howe, Jr. 's, "A Study of the 

 Genus Macrorhamphus," furnishes a re- 

 freshing exception to the multiplication of 

 races that regularly follows examinations of 

 large series. With 250 specimens he evolves 

 no new race, instead reducing the two spe- 

 cies to one with scolopaceus, a subspecies 

 of griseus. There is room for a great 

 deal more of this synthetical work, al- 

 though it is not so much fun as "splitting." 

 — Jonathan Dwight, Jr., M. D. 



The Condor, March- April, 1901. — The 

 first of a series of articles on Mexican birds, 

 by E. H. Skinner, is devoted to an account 

 of Giraud's Flycatcher, based on observa- 

 tions made near Tapachula, Chiapas, in 

 extreme southern Mexico. A somewhat 

 similar article by R. D. Lusk describes 

 the habits of the BuflF-breasted Flycatcher 

 in Arizona. Both are welcome contribu- 

 tions to the scanty literature of these 

 comparatively little known Flycatchers. 

 Chamberlin's notes on the nests of the 

 Western Gnatcatcher and Williams' ' Trait 

 of the Western Robin ' (in drooping the 

 wings while feeding) suggest interesting 



lilies of work for careful field observers. 

 t)f somewhat more local interest, but none 

 the less valuable, are two faunal papers, 

 one on ' Rare and Unusual Occurrences 

 at Stockton, Calif.,' by W. B. Sampson, 

 the other a list of birds of the Pima Res- 

 ervation, Arizona, by G. F. Breninger. 



Two notes on nomenclature are impor- 

 tant to students of western birds. Rich- 

 mond shows that the generic name of the 

 Condor, Pseudogryplius, must give way to 

 the shorter but scarcely more euphonius 

 name, Gymnogyps, so that the California 

 Condor will hereafter be known as Gym- 

 nogyps californinnus. McGregor calls 

 attention to an earlier name for the west- 

 ern Blackheaded Grosbeak, described in 

 the November number of the ' Condor ' — 

 another instance of careless work on the 

 part of an author who wa$ more anxious 

 to name a new subspecies than to study 

 its history. 



Under the head of communications Os- 

 good presents arguments in favor of recog- 

 nizing closely related forms by name, and 

 McGregor calls attention to the desir- 

 ability of dropping the possessive form of 

 bird names and of securing greater uni- 

 formity in the common names in the 

 A. O. U. Check -List. 



The Cooper Club's interest in bird pro- 

 tection is shown by a list of thirty names 

 on the Protection Committee for 1901 — a 

 larger committee than that appointed by 

 the A. O. U. Fifteen members belong to 

 the Northern Division and fifteen to the 

 Southern Division, representing in all four- 

 teen counties, or one-fourth of all those in 

 the state. There is ample work for such 

 a committee to do along educational lines, 

 since the bill which the club supported 

 so energetically and which passed both 

 branches of the Legislature failed to re- 

 ceive the Governor's approval. Bird pro- 

 tection in California needs more general 

 support, so that there may be no question 

 as to the enactment of a comprehensive 

 measure in 1903. — T. S. P. 



Books Received. — Other publications 

 received for review will be noticed in Bird- 

 Lore for August. 



