Book News and Reviews 



361 



colder weather and northwest winds. The 

 Sharp-shinned, the most numerous Hawk in 

 these flights, unquestionably prefers a north- 

 west wind, but Pigeon Hawk and Duck 

 Hawk prefer to fly directly into a southwest 

 wind. Whittle presents additional data 

 regarding the 'Arnold Arboretum' Mocking- 

 bird, with a table of the many bird-songs 

 and calls imitated by it. It seems that a 

 second Mockingbird, a female, appeared in 

 the Arboretum just before this remarkable 

 singer was last authentically noted there, 

 concluding its almost six years' residence. 

 Griscom, 'Field Studies of the Anatidae of 

 the Atlantic Coast' (Mergansers and fresh- 

 water Ducks in this number), will be very 

 helpful to anyone desirous of identifying 

 these birds in life. Reading the description 

 of the diagnostic shape of a flying Pintail, 

 brings to mind the expressive adjective 

 'spidery,' wherewith Mr. Griscom called the 

 writer's attention thereto a number of years 

 ago. This 'trick' word, which would perhaps 

 have been out of place in a scientific discus- 

 sion, like the 'more shapely' (an expression 

 from an old bayman) shape of the fresh- 

 water versus the sea Ducks, has proved very 

 helpful. Allan Brooks, discussing the habits 

 of the Bald Eagle in British Columbia, finds 

 that at times they subsist largely on fish; 

 at other times are very destructive to game- 

 and water-birds. The latter they do not 

 capture in flight, but pursue relentlessly, 

 until exhausted by diving, and then take 

 them from the surface of the water. 



'An Arizona Feeding-Table,' by F. M. 

 Bailey, gives delightful character sketches 

 of western birds; in 'A Visit to Midway 

 Island,' Bartsch summarizes species listed 

 from that locality. This paper, together 

 with a new Warbler from Southern Annam 

 described by Riley, give this number of The 

 Auk a foreign touch. H. F. Lewis, 'Notes 

 on Some Labrador Birds,' listing 36 species, 

 finds the sea-fowl on this coast less depleted 

 than has sometimes been supposed, gives a 

 Labrador record for the European Starling 

 and Bronzed Grackle, and judges that the 

 Song Sparrow is extending its range there. 

 J. D. Corrington lists 112 species of winter 

 birds from the Gulf coast of Mississippi, 

 and gives a short ornithological bibliography 



for the state. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker 

 is still "uncommon rather than rare" in a 

 certain wild swamp of considerable area. 



In General Notes are various records of 

 rare occurrences and items of faunal interest, 

 among them the Wood Ibis at Cape May, 

 N. J. (Stone), Cerulean Warbler at Wash- 

 ington, D. C. (a May, 1922, record, and 

 review of past occurrences about Washington , 

 M. T. Cooke). G. B. Grinnell records an 

 observation wherein he "saw a Woodcock 

 carry off a young one." While perfectly 

 convinced of the accuracy of his deductions 

 in the matter, every circumstance is care- 

 fully gone over so that the reader also may 

 judge thereof. This renders the note a 

 valuable contribution to a subject which is 

 not new. J. R. Malloch describes a House 

 Sparrow feeding a nest of young in the 

 evening in the lighted front of a moving- 

 picture theatre, on mayflies captured within 

 the radius of the lights. T. Hallinan writes 

 of 'Bird Interference on High-Tension 

 Electric Transmission Lines.' E. A. Doo- 

 little and E. von S. Dingle discuss the 

 'defense' note of Chickadees inside their 

 nesting-holes. From some familiarity with 

 the Horned Grebe in life, we would not 

 consider 'salmon-buff' throat or upper breast 

 a good criterion for sight identification of that 

 species in fall and winter, as apparently used 

 by one of the contributors. — J. T. N. 



Book News 



Houghton, Mifflin & Co., announce the 

 early publication of the first volume of Dr. 

 John C. Phillips' 'Natural History of the 

 Ducks.' This important monograph will 

 treat of the Ducks of the world and be fully 

 illustrated with colored and black and white 

 plates from drawings by Benson, Brooks, 

 and Fuertes. 



The Illinois Audubon Society (10 South 

 La Salle Street, Chicago) has issued a pocket 

 'Check-List of the Birds of Illinois' by B. T. 

 Gault, with Arthur A. Allen's 'Key to Birds' 

 Nests' (reprinted from Bird-Lore) which 

 makes a most convenient field manual. 



'Natural History' (Vol. XXII, p. 235) con- 

 tains an article by Francis H. Allen on 'Some 

 Little Known Songs of Common Birds ' 



