^oofe Jt^tm mh Itebietosf 



A Distributional List of the \ Birds 

 OF California. By Joseph Grinnell. 

 Pacific Coast Avifauna No. ii; Con- 

 tribution from the Museum of Verte- 

 brate Zoology of the University of 

 California. Published by the Cooper 

 Ornithological Club, Hollywood, Cali- 

 fornia, October 21, 1915. Roy. 8vo, 

 217 pages, 3 plates. 



Dr. Grinnell admits to this list 541 

 species and subspecies as unquestionably 

 Californian and includes in a Hypothetical 

 List 61 additional species whose standing 

 as Californian is doubtful. 



"The systematic order is that of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union Check- 

 List (1910), except that within groups of 

 species or subspecies a more natural ar- 

 rangement is sometimes adopted, for 

 example by according with geographical 

 sequence. The A. O. U. order is thus 

 accepted here because of the convenience 

 thereby admittedly secured, in concording 

 with the bulk of current ornithological 

 literature." (Page 7.) 



The distinctive feature of this paper is 

 its brief but clear introduction on the 

 life-zones and faunal areas of California 

 with its comments on the factors governing 

 the distribution of life, and on the relation 

 of faunas to zones. It is illustrated with 

 plates showing both zonal and faunal 

 divisions and four profiles across the state. 



The terms used for the areas here de- 

 fined are employed through the list of 

 birds and with the aid of the maps, convey 

 a maximum of information with a mini- 

 mum of words. 



Full records and references are given for 

 species of rare or accidental occurrence in 

 the state as a whole, as well as boundary 

 records for those forms occupying a por- 

 tion of the state. 



It goes without saying that this list is 

 authoritative and aside from its purely 

 scientific value it should be of much 

 assistance in at least the provisional iden- 

 tification in life of forms so closely related 

 that the locality at which they are seen is 

 their best field character. — F. M. C. 



(I 



The Double crested Cormorant (Phal- 

 acrocorax auritiis) and its Relations 

 TO THE Salmon Industries on the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. By P. A. 

 Taverner. Canadian Geological Sur- 

 vey. Mus. Bull. No. 13, Biol. Ser. 

 No. s; April 30, 1915. 8vo., 24 pages, 

 I plate. 



Complpint having been made that 

 Cormorants were damaging the salmon 

 fisheries of the Gaspe coast, the Geological 

 Survey of Canada despatched Mr. Taver- 

 ner with two assistants to study the food- 

 habits of the Cormorant in the region 

 where the charges against it originated. 



It is not without significance that the 

 Cormorant was accused, not by those who 

 are dependent on fishing for a living, but 

 by anglers who having rented certain 

 salmon streams apparently feel that they 

 have also acquired the power to inflict 

 the death penalty on any form of life 

 which they believe to interfere with their 

 own interests. 



Mr. Taverner was in the field from 

 June 21 to August 23, and during this 

 time he not only secured data which in- 

 dicated that the charges against the 

 Cormorant are unfounded but made an 

 interesting contribution to our knowledge 

 of the life-history of that bird. 



Thereis,morein Mr. Taverner's thought- 

 ful, well- written paper than is indicated by 

 its title. We trust that it will be read by 

 each of the complaining anglers!— F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — -The opening number of 

 Volume XVIII of 'The Condor,' for 

 January, 1916, is an unusually interesting 

 one. Under the title 'Philadelphia to the 

 Coast in Early Days,' Dr. Witmer Stone, 

 in a paper read at the meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union in San 

 Francisco, last May, outlines the develop- 

 ment of western ornithology prior to 

 1850. Anyone interested in the history of 

 early work in the West will find here a 

 clear, compact, and convenient r6sume of 

 the contributors to ornithology made by 

 10) 



