Book News and Reviews 



377 



Eifrig, and southwestern France by 

 Thomas D. Burleigh. Fred H. Kennard 

 describes a race of the Blue-winged Teal 

 •breeding in Louisiana, the adult drake 

 with white patch on the nape, illustrated 

 in a half-tone plate of heads by Fuertes. 

 Charles B. Cory describes a new species 

 and two new subspecies of South American 

 birds; Charles W. Richmond writes of a 

 scarce old volume on African birds of 

 interest to numerous modern students of 

 bird names, and there are also technical 

 systematic papers by Penard and Ober- 

 holser. Loomis publishes a photograph of 

 two Shearwater skins which he would have 

 us believe color phases of a single species. 

 Jonathan Dwight, "steering a middle 

 course between the Scylla of imperfect 

 knowledge on the one hand, and the Cha- 

 rybdis of nomenclature on the other," 

 takes up the question of the relationship 

 and correct names for the Lesser Black- 

 backed Gulls, Eurasian forms; and 

 N. HoUister writes of the relationship of 

 the Ring-necked to other allied Ducks of 

 the world. 



The above matter is, perhaps, too tech- 

 nical to interest most of Bird-Lore's 

 readers. For those who have a turn of 

 mind to biography there is 'Jacob Post 

 Giraud, Jr., and His Works,' by Witmer 

 Stone. Giraud died in 1870. His 'Birds of 

 Long Island,' published in 1844, was the 

 best piece of local ornithological work that 

 had appeared up to that time and gives 

 us a reliable picture of water-bird life in 

 early times. Giraud was a personal friend 

 of George N. Lawrence and probably had 

 a considerable influence on the career of 

 that younger, better-known naturalist. 



Variation in the nesting habits of a bird 

 in different parts of its range is of much 

 interest, and in this connection we have a 

 description of finding the nest and eggs of 

 the southern race of the Black-throated 

 Green Warbler at Mt. Pleasant, S. C, by 

 Arthur T. Wayne. .\ breeding colony of 

 Great Blue Herons at Lake Cormorant, 

 Minn., is described in detail l)y Horace 



Gunthorp, and we are pleased to -learn 

 that "it is located where it will in all 

 probability be protected in years to come 

 and thus it will be possible to record the 

 future growth of the colony accurately, and 

 so we shall be able to form some estimate of 

 the status of the Great Blue Heron in 

 Minnesota and the Northwest." 



Aretas A. Saunders graphically describes 

 a constant difference in song he has found 

 between Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the 

 Rocky Mountain region and those farther 

 east, with accompanying remarks on the 

 variation of bird-song, etc. As is the case 

 in earlier studies of bird habits by the same 

 author, Mr. Saunders' remarks are un- 

 usually clear and convincing. 'The Evolu- 

 tion of Bird-Song' is discussed by Francis 

 H. Allen in a very interesting manner, 

 showing of what wide philosophic interest 

 is the field offered by a study of bird- 

 voices. 



The General Notes contain more than 

 the usual variety, — systematic matter, 

 rare records, etc. The 'Occurrence of 

 the Cerulean Warbler in the Catskills.' 

 probably breeding (S. H. Chubb), 

 catches our eye, as also a southern Massa- 

 chusetts breeding record for the Myrtle 

 Warbler, and the surprisingly early arrival 

 of the Tree Swallow for a period of years 

 at Plymouth, Mass., as opposed to its 

 later appearance in other localities (J. A. 

 Farley). Notes from various observers 

 from different parts of the country show 

 that there was a springi flight of the 

 Evening Grosbeak in 1919; localities 

 are in Massachusetts, New York, New 

 Jersey, Ohio. 



Taking this October number as a whole, 

 we are struck with the amount of matter 

 it contains relative to foreign as opposed 

 to North American birds. This may be 

 merely chance, a matter of no significance, 

 but we suspect that it is indicative of a 

 real tendency in bird-study, and that 

 American bird students will in the future 

 lei their interests stray further afield. — 

 J.T. M. 



