274 Recent Literature. LApril 



nomenclature can be devised which will recall a given color. This we very- 

 much doubt and it seems to us a case exactly parallel to that of syllabic 

 notation of bird song (cf. Auk, 1913, p. 472). There may be some people 

 endowed with a color sense similar to the gift of absolute pitch in music, 

 who can tell the relationship of a given shade to one of the primary tints, 

 but they must be exceedingly rare, and if we have to match our colors with 

 the book it is easier by far to locate 'Payne's Gray' by the index than to 

 find " the double-gray half -tint of spectrum blue " according to the system 

 tentatively suggested by the author, and imagine the consternation of the 

 modern describers of new races of birds who glory in reducing their de- 

 scriptions to two or three lines if they had to use such a nomenclature T 

 Mr. Ridgway's names are simply intended as ' check-marks ' by which the 

 colors described by one author may be found by another. Numbers 

 would have been simpler but the danger of ruinous typographical errors 

 would have been very great. 



Preliminary Report upon the Disease Occurring among the Ducks of 

 the Southern San Joaquin Valley during the Fall of 1913. By Frank C. 

 Clarke. — Estimated that 25,000 birds had perished at the time the in- 

 vestigation was made. Examinations and experiments show either a. 

 mineral or organic poison in the water as the cause of the disease. 



The Condor. Vol. XVI. No. 1. January-February, 1914. 



Direct Approach as a Method in Bird Photography. By W. L. Dawson. 

 — Illustrated by some remarkable photographs of shore birds, ibises, etc. 



Notes on the Derby Flycatcher. By Adriaan Van Rossem. — In Sal- 

 vador. 



Some Notes on the Nesting of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. By H. J. 

 Rust. — Admirable photographs show the development of the j^oung. 



The People's Bread. By W. L. Dawson. — A critique of ' Western 

 Bird Guide.' 



A Second List of the Birds of the Berkeley Campus. By Joseph Grinnell.. 



The Wilson Bulletin. Vol. XXV. No. 4. December, 1913. 



Experiments in Feeding Hummingbirds during Seven Summers. By 

 Althea R. Sherman. — A most valuable contribution to the habits of the- 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Bottles of syrup eventually attracted al- 

 most the entire attention of the birds to the exclusion of flowers. Arti- 

 ficial flowers attached to the tops of the bottles were found quite unnecessary, 

 the birds drinking as readily from the exposed bottles. Six hummingbirds 

 consumed in twenty days three cupfuls (9252 grains) of sugar made into> 

 syrup. The detailed observations are extremely interesting. 



Nest Life of the Catbird. By I. N. Gabrielson. — A detailed study of 

 the feeding of the young, etc., similar to the author's previous paper on the 

 Brown Thrasher. 



Bird Notes from the South West. By J. L. Sloanaker.— Near Tucson, 

 Arizona. 



An Unusual Flight of Warblers in the Missouri Valley. By T. C. 

 Stephens. — Annotated list of 19 species observed at Sioux City, Iowa, 

 during the spring of 1913. 



