84 



THE OOLOGIST 



far as our knowledge, experience and 

 reading goes, a very unusual nesting 

 site for this species; indeed the first 

 instance of the kind coming within 

 our personal knowledge. The nest con- 

 tained four eggs and the mother bird 

 apparently as much at home as she 

 nestled among the grass, as a Red- 

 wing Blackbird or Meadow lark. 



FROM ISLE OF PINES. 



A Field Trip to 'Sas Tres Hertnanas" 



Mountains.. April 4, 1910. 



It was a cloudy Sunday morning 

 when we started from McKinley for 

 Nueva Gerona from where we were 

 to go to the mountains. In our party 

 there were ten. three of us on horse 

 back and the rest in a wagon. After 

 a most enjoyable ride of about twelve 

 miles we arrived at the base of the 

 mountains where we ate lunch. After 

 eating we started to climb and in due 

 time arrived at the top. The view was 

 fine, but because of the mist we could 

 not see quite so far out at sea as we 

 could have on a clearer day, and our 

 photographs were not so good. Very 

 few birds were seen on the mountains, 

 namely: Black-whiskered Vireo, 

 which were in full song; Turkey Buz- 

 zards, and a pair of Broad-winged 

 Hawks. The following birds were seen 

 on the trip to and from Nueva Gerona: 



Lizard Cuckoo, Cuban Kingbird, 

 Gray Kingbird, Cuban Oriole, Cuban 

 Pewee, Red-legged Thrush, Cuban 

 Sparrow Hawk, Palm Warbler, Pigeon 

 (Columba inornata). Meadow-lark, 

 West Indian Mourning Dove, Cuban 

 Ground Dove, Cuban Grackle, Florida 

 Yellow - throat, Cuban Red - bellied 

 Woodpecker, Yellow-faced Grassquit 

 and the best of all the Melodious 

 Grassquit, which is an extremely rare 

 bird. We arrived home about 7:30 p. 

 m., tired, but well pleased with our 

 trip and hope to go again soon. 



A. C. READ. 



Books Received. 



Part 1, pp. 1-8, Volume 7, University 

 of California Publications in Zoology, 

 May 26, 1910. 



This publication described two al- 

 leged new birds, as follows: 



Sahuara Screech Owl (otis asio gil- 

 mani) — -"Most like Otis asio ciner- 

 aceus — Ridgeway, from which is dif- 

 fers chiefly in slightly smaller size, 

 paler coloration and greater restric- 

 tion of the dark markings." 



Arizona Spotted Owl (Strix occi- 

 dentalis huachuace) — 'Similar to Strix 

 occidentalis occidentalis — Xanthus, 

 but slightly smaller and conspicuously 

 paler, white markings more extensive 

 and dark areas less deep toned." 



Both of these birds are described 

 by Harry S. Swarth, the first being 

 based upon a comparison of a series of 

 eight birds and the latter based ex- 

 clusively ujjon the type specimen. 



We are now arriving at the natural 

 and, necessarily to be expected end 

 of the transition stage through which 

 American Ornithology has of late been 

 aimlessly traveling. Praise the Lord! 

 We may now describe a new sub-spe- 

 cies based ujoon a single bird. This 

 is as it should be. Every ornitholo- 

 gist from now on may without fear, 

 label every bird that he finds as an in- 

 dependent new sub-species and there- 

 by indefinitely enlarge private collec- 

 tion. Throw away all your labels and 

 in lieu of a dozen or fifteen sub-spe- 

 cies of Horned Larks and a couple of 

 dozen different Song Sparrows take 

 each specimen in your collection and 

 re-label each bird, a separate sub- 

 species. You may thereby at some- 

 time in the very distant, misty future, 

 enroll your name in letters bold and 

 bright upon the future pages of Ameri- 

 can Ornithology as the originator or 

 discoverer of a sub-species that is 

 "similar to ... . but slightly 

 smaller" than some other bird that- 

 somebody else secured the day before 

 or the day after. You will certainly 

 thereby, to say the least, encourage 

 the destruction of the birds in the end- 

 less hunt for something that is "sim- 

 ilar to" but "slightly different from." 



