214 



Bird- Lore 



of bird life fouiui in passing from the hot 

 plains of southern California to the alpine 

 conditions of the High Sierra at an altitude 

 of 1 1, GOO feet. The nesting habits of the 

 Desert Sparrow Hawk are described by 

 Rising, and those of the Western Vellow- 

 throat by Leland. An annotated list of i68 

 species of birds found at Paicines, C'alifor- 

 nia, is given by J. and J. W. Mailliard, 

 and short notes on the occurrence and hab- 

 its of interesting species observed in various 

 parts of the state are published by other 

 contributors. The Cooper Club now has 

 1 60 members — probably a larger list of ac- 

 tive workers than is enrolled in any other 

 state. The combined labors of so many 

 observers should result in a considerable 

 addition to our knowledge of California 

 birds in the near future. — T. S. P. 



Book News 



I'he Audubon Calendar for 1902, just 

 issued by the Massachusetts Audubon So- 

 ciety, a miniature cut of one page of which 

 is here reproduced, contains admirably col- 

 ored life-sized figures of the Snowflake, 

 Fox Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Wood 

 Thrush, Meadowlark, and male and female 



l<H)2. 



The Auoubon Callndar 



In 'Science' for Oct. 4, 1901, Mr. W. E. 

 1). Scott makes an important contribution 

 to the subject of the heredity of song in 

 birds in an interesting account of his study 

 of several Baltimore Orioles. He shows 

 that two birds of this species "isolated from 

 their own kind and from all birds, but with 

 a strong inherited tendency to sing," origi- 

 nated a song of their own quite unlike the 

 normal Baltimore Oriole's song; and, fur- 

 ther, that four more Baltimore Orioles "iso- 

 lated from wild representatives of their own 

 kind, and associated with the two who had 

 invented the new song, learned it from them 

 and never sang in any other way." 



The bird photographer who palms off 

 pictures of mounted birds placed amid nat- 

 ural surroundings as " photographs from 

 life" still thrives and, to our surprise, occa- 

 sionally succeeds in disposing of his wares 

 to the editors of ornithological journals. 



'By the Wayside,' the bright little 

 monthly published by the Wisconsin and 

 Illinois Audubon Societies at 635 State 

 Street, Madison, Wisconsin, at the small 

 subscription price of twenty cents per an- 

 num, reflects the activity of these societies 

 in educational matters and should receive 

 the support of every one interested in this, 

 the most important phase of Audubon work. 



Red Crossbills, with descriptive text from 

 Minot's 'Land-Birds and Game-Birds of 

 New England.' It may be procured of 

 Miss Harriet E. Richards, Secretary, 

 tare Boston Society of Natural History, 

 linston, Mass. Price, 50 cents. 



That a book on nature would outsell the 

 most popular novel of the season, would cer- 

 tainly not have been predicted by the most 

 sanguine nature-lover, and still we find the 

 publishers of Mr. Seton-Thompson's 'Lives 

 of the Hunted ' announcing the seventieth 

 thousand copy of this work within the first 

 month after its publication. 



We may add, that while the author of 

 this book has recently resumed his legal 

 name of Seton, he will continue to use 

 Seton-Thompson as a pen name. 



Bird-Lore has pleasure in stating that 

 the reviews of ornithological magazines, 

 which have been so interesting a feature of 

 the volume just closing, will be continued 

 in 1902, Dr. Dwight reviewing 'The Auk,' 

 Dr. Fisher, 'The Osprey' and 'Wilson 

 Bulletin,' and Dr. Palmer, 'The Condor.' 



