426 



Recent Literature. q" 



While the major life zones of California were defined in a general way 

 some years ago by Dr. Merriam, and also by Mr. Keeler, and some of the 

 minor areas by Dr. Grinnell in 1902, ' this appears to be the first attempt 

 to delimit and name the Faunas of the State, as such, the faunal areas, or 

 "Isohumic Areas," of Grinnell, ten in number, being climatic rather than 

 faunal. Mr. Stephens's extended field experience in California has made 

 him familiar with the faunal as well as the climatic conditions prevailing 

 over a large part of the State, so that his paper on its faunal areas is based 

 largely on personal knowledge. It is to be regretted, however, that he did 

 not give more space to details in denning his faunal areas, and also that 

 they were not more formally set off typographically in the text. — J. A. A. 



Chapman on the Life History of the American Flamingo. 2 — In this 

 paper of twenty five pages, with numerous half-tone illustrations from 

 photographs of the living birds, Mr. Chapman has presented the scien- 

 tific results of his studies of the great Bahama Flamingo rookeries in 

 May, 1902, and May and June, 1904. An earlier popular account of the 

 same observations was given by him in 'The Century Magazine' for 

 December, 1904, and also some notes on the habits of the young birds in 

 ' Bird-Lore '(Vol. VI, pp. 193-198). Also in 'The Auk' for January, 1905 

 (XXII, pp. 107-109), in our account of the 'Flamingo Group' recently 

 placed on exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History, some 

 reference is made to his successful trip to the Bahamas for Flamingoes 

 in 1904. The present paper gives a systematic and very full account of 

 the life-history of the species as observed under the most favorable con- 

 ditions. He remained at the rookery from June 7 to June 14, studying 

 the birds at close-range during the height of the breeding season. By 

 erecting skilfully devised 'blinds" he was able to established himself in 

 the very midst of the great rookery, "without apparently arousing the 

 birds' suspicions," from which the colony could be observed and photo- 

 graphed as a whole, or the individual birds, young and old, "studied from 

 as near as six feet." 



After a brief summary of the work of previous observers, he proceeds 

 to give a detailed account of the habits of the birds, including the time of 

 nesting, the character of the nesting ground, the nest and its construction, 

 the eggs, the period of incubation, the habits of the young birds and of 

 the aduhs, including their notes and food ; while the reproduced photo- 

 graphs show the rookery when the birds are in repose (incubating and 



1 Check-List of California Birds. Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 3, June, 

 1902, pp. 6, 7, and 2 maps. 



2 A Contribution to the Life History of the American Flamingo (P/iceni- 

 copterus ruber), with Remarks upon Specimens. By Frank M. Chapman. 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXI, 1905, pp. 53-77, with 15 text figures. June 

 IS. !9Q5- 



