Book News and Reviews 



189 



familiarity with them in the field, con- 

 trasted with the very interesting accounts 

 of certain nesting species. Descriptions of 

 their migrating calls, one of the most 

 attractive features of such birds, are 

 especially weak. Similarly, the white 

 'diamond' in the back of the Dowitcher is 

 not mentioned among the field characterist- 

 ics of that species, although it is the best 

 and most reliable one, probably because 

 it is not evident in prepared skins. 



As should be the case in any such com- 

 prehensive work, information is drawn 

 from many sources, and its reference value 

 is enhanced by a convenient list of litera- 

 ture cited, as also by a good index. All in 

 all, the volume is a vpry satisfactory one, 

 the best that has been published of similar 

 scope, and a model of good book-making. 

 —J. T. N. 



Birds of the Kansas City Region. By 

 Harry Harris. Transactions of the 

 Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol. 

 23, No. 8, 1919. 8vo. 159 pp. 



This is an annotated list of 311 species, 

 with four others included as of probable 

 occurrence. In a number of instances more 

 than one race of a species is listed. The 

 Red-winged Blackbird, which nests in this 

 locality, belongs to a race which is also 

 widely distributed to the east. It is very 

 abundant in migration but comparatively 

 few are found in winter, at which season 

 the Rocky Mountain race, as also the one 

 which breeds to the north, may be present 

 in large numbers. 



There is a general statement of the 

 times of arrival and departure of migra- 

 tory birds, and although no attempt is 

 made to give dates consistently through- 

 out, there is much definite information of 

 this character, for instance, an interesting 

 comparison of dates of spring arrival of two 

 Flycatchers, the Phoebe, an early migrant, 

 and the Crested Flycatcher, a late one. In 

 the former there is a variation of twenty- 

 seven days (March 3 to 30) with the mean 

 (March 16) slightl}' earlier than the middle 

 of this period and an average deviation of 

 six days from the mean. In the latter there 

 is a variation of eighteen days (April 15 to 



May 3) the mean (April 27) lies in the 

 latter part of the period, with average 

 deviation of only three days from it. 



As this is the first list from the locality 

 it will be of much service to local students. 

 The fact that Kansas City lies in the com- 

 paratively little studied Prairie region 

 makes it of especial interest to those who 

 deal with North American birds as a whole, 

 and readers of Bird-Lore's seasonal re- 

 ports will find the ones from Kansas City 

 (by the same author) rendered more in- 

 teresting by reference to this list. — J. T. N. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The January issue deals 

 largely, although not exclusively, with 

 Canadian birds, and the excellence of a 

 number of the half-tones is worthy of 

 notice. 



The first part of an annotated list of 

 'The Birds of the Red Deer River, Alberta,' 

 by P. A. Taverner, is most instructive and 

 is based chiefly on observations made dur- 

 ing the summer of 1917; we find 'Notes on 

 Some Birds of the Okanagan Valley, 

 British Columbia,' by J. A. Munro, and 

 'Further Notes on New Brunswick Birds,' 

 by P. B. Philipp and B. S. Bowdish, the 

 latter article with illustrations of the nest 

 of the Cape May Warbler, of Wilson's 

 Snipe and of the Arctic Three-toed Wood- 

 pecker, and with valuable notes on these 

 and other nests of considerable rarity. 



The 'Winter Birds of East Goose Creek, 

 Florida' are listed by R. W. Williams, and, 

 on the next page, at the other extreme of 

 the continent in 'Notes on the Summer 

 Birds of the Upper Yukon Region, Alaska,' 

 Eliot Blackwelder describes a country little 

 known to the ornithologist and lists the 

 birds seen there in the summer of 1915. 

 The reader is also taken out into the 

 Pacific Ocean and may read of 'The 

 Hawaiian Elepaio,' by Vaughan MacCa- 

 ughe}', — largely a field study of this Fly- 

 catcher, but, nc\crthelcss, monograj)hic 

 in its completeness. 



A new subspecies of the Hepatic Tanager 

 (Piranga hcpatica orcophasma) is described 

 by II. C. Obcrholser, who also advocates 



