434 



Bird- Lore 



Crow Roost.' Let no one despair of oppor- 

 tunity, for if one is denied Arctic explora- 

 tion, one may find something new about 

 home, and Dr. Townsend shows us what 

 may be learned of the humble Crow when 

 he gathers nightly by the thousand in a 

 "river of black wings." We learn that 

 "Crows take no interest in food conserva- 

 tion" and eject pellets like the Owls, rich 

 in nutriment when berries are plentiful in 

 the fall, but consisting only of skins and 

 husks when food becomes scarce in the 

 winter. Aithur T. Wayne, with 'Some 

 Additions and Other Records New to the 

 (Ornithology of North Carolina,' also 

 shows how much may be learned in a 

 limited area by constant and careful 

 observation. 



Chauncey J. Hawkins reviews at great 

 length some of the pros and cons in 

 'Sexual Selection and Bird-Song,' adding 

 some theories of his own which, although 

 they are not altogether convincing, are, 

 superficially at least, as plausible as some 

 others that have been advanced in the 

 past. 



Prof. Hubert L. Clark discusses 'The 

 Pterylosis of the Wild Pigeon' based on 

 material in the Agassiz Museum which is 

 fortunate in possessing alcoholic specimens 

 of an extinct bird. 



In a 'List of Birds Collected on the 

 Harvard Peruvian Expedition of 191 6' 

 are included a number of new forms. A 

 sixth paper of 'Notes on North American 

 Birds' by H. C. Oberholser briefly dis- 

 cusses and summarily settles the status of 

 the Belted Kingfishers, the Barn Owls, the 

 Brown Creepers, the Redpolls, the Myrtle 

 Warblers, and the Carolina Chickadee. He 

 also, in another extensive paper, resusci- 

 tates 'The Subspecies of Larits liypcr- 

 boreus, Gunnerus' (i. e. the Point Barrow 

 Gull), which the present reviewer had the 

 temerity to lay at rest a dozen years ago. 

 It is merely a question of opinion as to 

 how much difference in size we care to 

 recognize ! 



The departments of Notes and of Re- 

 views are filled with items showing the 

 interest of numerous observers and work- 

 ers in many channels of activity. — J. I). 



The Condor. — The contents of the 

 September number of 'The Condor' are 

 unusually varied and interesting. Brad- 

 bury's 'Notes on the Nesting of the 

 Mountain Plover,' illustrated with eight 

 excellent photographs, contains an account 

 of the finding of six sets of eggs of this 

 bird, in May, 191 7, on the open rolling 

 prairie about 20 miles east of Denver, Col. 

 A brief autobiography of Frank Stephens, 

 accompanied by a portrait, will be read 

 with much interest by the many friends of 

 this veteran field naturalist. This article, 

 the first of "a series of autobiographies of 

 the older ornithologists of the West," will, 

 we hope, be followed by others at frequent 

 intervals. A subject somewhat different 

 from those based on ordinarj' field expe- 

 riences is discussed in Willard's 'Evidence 

 That Many Birds Remain Mated for 

 Life.' The evidence presented concerning 

 Flycatchers, Hummingbirds, Warblers, 

 Woodpeckers, Doves, and other species 

 nesting in southern Arizona, while stronglj' 

 presumptive, suggests that more con- 

 clusive data for certain species might be 

 secured by banding birds and observing 

 them from j^ear to year. The fourth chap- 

 ter of Mrs. Bailey's 'Return to the Dakota 

 Lake Region' is devoted to a most inter- 

 esting description of the habits of 'the 

 Grebe with the Silvery Throat,' commonly 

 known as the Western Grebe. 



Warburton contributes a suggestive 

 article on 'Some Oceanic Birds from off the 

 Coast of Washington and Vancouver 

 Island.' Auklets, Albatrosses, Murres, 

 Puffins, Shearwaters, Skuas and Fork- 

 tailed Petrels were observed during a 

 week spent on a halibut fishing-launch 

 from June 26 to July 3, 1917. If such 

 means of transportation were utilized more 

 frequently, a valuable series of observa- 

 tions on the sea-birds of the fishing-banks 

 could readily be collected. 



Two rather more technical papers are: 

 Oberholser's description of a new sub- 

 species of Blue-throated Hummingbird 

 based on a specimen from the Chiricahui 

 Mountains, Ariz.; and Taverner's list of 

 forty species of 'Summer Birds of .\lert 

 Bay, British Columbia.' — T. S. P. 



