86 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Ornithological Magazines. 



The Auk. — The Auk for July is rich in timely bird news and 

 information. For one who cares to speculate on the antiquity of 

 existing faunas, the article by Spencer Trotter, on "The Geological 

 and Geographical Relations of the Land-Bird Fauna of Northeastern 

 America" will be suggestive and instructive. Dr.'C. W. Townsend, 

 of Boston, writes in a very interesting way of "The Use of Wings 

 and Feet by Diving Birds." The same author gives an account of 

 the recent "Carolina Wren Invasion of New England." Walter P. 

 Taylor tells of one instance of hybridization of Hummingbirds. The 

 fifteenth supplement to the A. O. U. checklist is printed in this 

 number. It is now proper to say Snowy Egret instead of Snowy 

 Heron; Upland Plover instead of Bartramian Sandpiper; Veery 

 instead of Wilson's Thrush, and Savannah Sparrow is made the 

 proper spelling, instead of Savanna Sparrow. There are several 

 notes of special interest to Maine readers. 



The Condor. — The Condor iox May-June comes from the Paci- 

 fic coast filled with a mass of current news about Western birds. 

 In this issue the reader may learn much about the White-throated 

 Swift, Pigmy Nuthatch, Spotted Owl, Pacific Horned Owl, Magpie, 

 California Shrike, Brewer Blackbird, Bi-colored Blackbird, Mourn- 

 ing Dove, Eark Bunting, Rocky Mountain Screech Owl, California 

 Brown Pelican, and other species familiar to observers in that part 

 of the country. The Editor of this magazine has adopted a few of 

 the most barbarous forms of the "simplified" spelling, and we are 

 shocked to learn that a certain bird "hatcht" a young one, which 

 became "attacht" to the feathers of its parent, as the writer observed 

 when he "approacht" the nest, with a cigar box "tuckt" under his 

 arm, thus becoming a "markt" man, in an "unlookt-for" spell of 

 weather. The Editor remarks that cats, as "cherisht pet," of a 

 murderous nature, should be kept at home, and few will disagree 

 with him, in view of the damage to bird life every season by cats, 

 both in the east and west. The typography of the Condor is clear 

 and handsome, the half-tone illustrations are fine, and as the stan- 



