Recentl]/ published Ornithological Works. 633 



Cassinia. 



[Cassinia. A Bird Annual. Proceedings of tlie Delaware Valley 

 Ornitliological Club of Philadelphia. No. xviii. for 1914, 1915, pp. 1-80.] 



There is always a scholarly and literary flavour about 

 ' Cassinia ' which makes it quite the pleasantest of the 

 American bird-magazines. This is perhaps due to the fact 

 that at Philadelphia the foundations and early traditions of 

 American scientific culture centre. We believe that the 

 American Philosophical Society is the oldest scientific body 

 on the western continent, while the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences possesses the finest scientific library ; both these 

 institutions are located at Philadelphia. 



The present number of ' Cassinia ' opens with interesting 

 reminiscences of some old Pliiladelphian collectors and 

 taxidermists by Mr, Spencer Trotter; this is followed by 

 an article on bird-observation on the lower reaches of the 

 great Delaware river and some speculations on the causes 

 of the movements and habits of Gulls by Mr. John Carter, 

 while Mr. G. S. Morris sends a somewhat similar con- 

 tribution on the birds of Tacony creek, which lies only 

 just beyond the suburbs of the city. Mr. Henry Oldys 

 points out in an interesting paper what an infinite variety 

 there is in the song of individual birds, and gives, reduced 

 to musical notation, eleven difl'erent variations — out of 118 

 others recorded in his notebooks — of that of the Meadow- 

 Lark {Sturnella tnagna). The usual '^ Report on the Spring 

 Migration,'^ compiled by Mr. Witmer Stone, forms the 

 concluding article of this excellent volume, which should 

 certainly be much more widely known on this side of the 

 Atlantic than it appears to be. 



The Condor. 



[The Condor. A Magazine of Western Ornithology. Vol. xvi. 

 nos. 1-6, 1914.] 



The volume of ' The Condor ' for last year contains a large 

 number of articles dealing with subjects chiefly of local 

 interest to the ornithologists of the western United States. 



