Book News and Reviews 



317 



migration route along the Atlantic coast, 

 where it is still so destructive to the rice- 

 crop as not to merit the protection, as a 

 species, accorded other song-birds. Town- 

 send calls attention to evidence of wanton 

 destruction of sea-birds in Labrador 

 contained in a letter from Dr. Robert T. 

 Morris. 



In the news items there is mention of 

 the Mammal Society of national scope 

 organized at Washington, D. C, in April, 

 of which Dr. C. Hart Merriam is president; 

 and we learn that the 1919 meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union is sched- 

 uled to be held in the American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York City, 

 November 11 to 13. — J. T. N. 



The Condor. — The March and May 

 numbers of The Condor contain more than 

 the usual number of interesting articles 

 and notes. Bradbury's well-illustrated 

 'Nesting Notes on the Rocky Mountain 

 Creeper' based on observations made in 

 Gilpin County, Colo., in June, 1917; 

 Munro's 'Notes on the Breeding Habits of 

 the Red Crossbill in the Okanagan Valley, 

 B. C.,' in 1918; and Willett's 'Notes on 

 the Nesting of Two Little-known Species 

 of Petrel' — the White-breasted Petrel 

 {Pterodronia hypoleuca) and the Sooty 

 Petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami) on Laysan 

 Island in 1913 — treat of little-known 

 phases in the life-history of these in- 

 teresting birds. On the other hand, 

 A. M. Ingersoll's autobiography, and Mrs. 

 Bailey's sympathetic sketch of the late 

 Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller introduce the 

 reader more intimately to the lives of 

 two prominent California ornithologists. 

 Warren's 'Bird Notes of a Stormy Day in 

 May [191 7I at Colorado Springs;' Wet- 

 more's 'Bird Records from the Sacra- 

 mento Valley, Calif.,' in 1918; Miiil- 

 liard's 'Notes from the I-'eather River 

 Country,' Calif., in the spring of the same 

 year; and Taverner's 'Summer Birds of 

 Hazelton, B. C.,' contains much of local 



interest, while Edward's 'Losses Suffered 

 by Breeding Birds in Southern California,' 

 and L. H. Miller's discussion of 'The 

 Marital Tie in Birds' should be read by 

 all who are interested in the general 

 aspects of ornithology. Indeed, the last 

 two articles furnish not only much food 

 for thought, but suggest the importance of 

 further observation and discussion of 

 these questions. 



The May number opens with Bradbury's 

 'Notes on the Egg of Aepyornis maximus' 

 of Madagascar, accompanied by some 

 striking illustrations of a specimen in the 

 Bradbury collection in the Colorado 

 Museum of Natural History. This egg, 

 measuring 9 j'^ by 13 inches, was one of the 

 first of this species to reach America and 

 was imported by the late Robert Gilfort, 

 of Orange, N. J. Its displacement is 

 equivalent to that of 7>^ ostrich eggs, 

 40 goose eggs, or 183 hen eggs. Mrs. 

 Bailey contributes a sixth chapter to her 

 'Return to the Dakota Lake Region,' 

 treating of 'The Coulee of the Meadows.' 

 Oberholser, in a 'Description of an Inter- 

 esting New Junco from Lower California' 

 separates the bird from the Hanson 

 Laguna Mountains under the name Junco 

 oreganiis pontilis 'although its range 

 seems, like that of J . 0. townsendi, to be 

 restricted to a single mountain range.' 

 The biographical contributions in this 

 number include the first part of the auto- 

 biography of Henry W. Henshaw, a sketch 

 of the late Malcolm P. Anderson by his 

 father, and a brief obituary notice of 

 Merrill W. Blain by the editor. The Hen- 

 shaw autobiography is one of the most 

 interesting as well as important of those 

 which have thus far appeared in the 

 Condor series. The number closes with 

 the annual directory, containing the 

 names and addresses of (> honorary and 

 585 active members of the Cooper Or- 

 nithological Club, a slight decrease in 

 comparison with the total of 600 names 

 on the rolls last year. — T. S. P. 



