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Bird - Lore 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The January, 1922, number, 

 which begins the thirty-ninth volume of 

 The Auk (the forty-seventh, with the 

 'Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club,' 

 of which it is a continuation) opens with 'In 

 Memoriam: Joel Asaph Allen,' by F. M. 

 Chapman, with frontispiece, portrait photo- 

 graph. As Editor of The Auk, Dr. Allen 

 was the pilot of a publication which for so 

 long has carried forward the genius of Amer- 

 ican ornithology. Though he had the satis- 

 faction of surrendering the helm to other able 

 hands several years before his death, The 

 Auk will remain, among other things, a 

 monument (which he would appreciate) to 

 his interest and work in ornithology. "It 

 is impossible to consider Dr. Allen's career 

 without feeling that few men have more 

 nearly and more happily approached the full 

 measure of their potential achievements." 



C. W. and Enid Michael record detailed 

 behavior studies of a mated pair of Harlequin 

 Ducks, evidently nesting, in the Yosemite 

 Valley, Calif., though the nest could not be 

 found. These Ducks were particularly fond 

 of bread, and by means of a floating food- 

 tray remarkable photographs (two full-page 

 plates) of this beautiful, bizarrely colored 

 bird we/e obtained. 



'A Myrtle Warbler Invasion,' by C. L. 

 Whittle, records a remarkable concentration 

 of the bird moving northward through the 

 outer coastal wax myrtle belt near Charleston 

 harbor, S. C, 24000 individuals (estimated) 

 being observed at one point. 



"What birds can be satisfactorily identified 

 in the field?" — "When is a sight record of 

 scientific value?" These are questions of 

 interest to bird-lovers and to modern orni- 

 thologists who must supplement a knowledge 

 of the dead bird with that of the living. They 

 are ably discussed by Ludlow Griscom in 

 'Problems of Field Indentification,' from the 

 point of view of the professional ornithologist, 

 and also of the amateur observer. His paper 

 should be given serious consideration by 

 everybody (though everybody will not agree 

 with all its details), for nowhere else in the 

 field of science is the personal equation more 

 constantly to be faced and reckoned with 

 than in such matters. 



'A Calendar of Bird Migration,' by Norman 

 Criddle, refers to a locality in Manitoba, and 

 is based on twenty-five years' observation 

 summarized in tabular form. 'Supple- 

 mentary Notes on the Birds of Berkshire 

 County, Massachusetts,' by Walter Faxon 

 and Ralph Hoffman, gives faunal data on 

 some 47 species. "The European Starling 

 is now generally distributed as a perma- 

 nent resident through the Housatonic 

 Valley towns." 'Bird Distribution in Eastern 

 Kentucky,' by R. E. Horsey, lists 84 

 species. 



C. J. Hawkins in 'Sexual Selection and 

 Bird Songs' discusses a fascinating subject, 

 one which, it seems to the reviewer, would be 

 elucidated by a better knowledge of the doubt- 

 less several functions of a bird's song. 

 Hawkins would have us believe that tenden- 

 cies to a variation in song simultaneously 

 effect numerous individuals in a given area 

 and are fixed by isolation as physical, racial 

 characters doubtless often are. In 'Notes on 

 Tubinares,' R. C. Murphy calls attention to 

 a first North American record of the Yellow- 

 nosed Mollymawk, a wanderer from the 

 southern ocean; to the fact that the Medi- 

 terranean as well as Azorian, etc., race of 

 Cory's Shearwater has been taken off Long 

 Island, N. Y.; and to what is known of the 

 range of Hornby's Petrel, recently found to be 

 common off Peru, and probably not entitled 

 to a North American status, even as a wan- 

 derer. H. C. Oberholser concludes that the 

 Long-eared Owl, and the Snowy Plovers of 

 the Pacific Coast, are but geographic races of 

 species found in both the Old and New World; 

 and that Hutton's and Anthony's Vireos are 

 indistinguishable even as races. Other papers 

 are 'A New Burrowing Owl from Colombia' 

 (Stone), 'Thirty-ninth Stated Meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists Union,' and 'Re- 

 port of the Secretary [of the A. O. U.]' 

 (Palmer). 



'General Notes' contain a variety of items, 

 mostly of faunal interest. McAtee supplies 

 data on the food of the Guacharo or Oil-bird, 

 remarkable among birds allied to the Goat- 

 suckers in being a fruit-eater; and there is 

 interesting matter on the habits of the Short- 

 billed Marsh Wren near Montreal, Canada, 

 by L. Mel. Terrill.— J. T. N. 



