April, 1922.1 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



79 



note, p. 490, the expense of publication was borne 

 by his sister, Miss Mary Wright. It is a compre- 

 hensive and detailed account of the occurrence 

 of the species along the northern border of its 

 range. As far as Canada is concerned most of 

 the old records are cited, Sable Island, that 

 extraordinary sandpit lost in the sea off our east 

 coast where so many unexpected waifs have 

 strayed, Tfuro, N.S., St. John, N.B., Anticosti 

 Island and Godbout, P.Q. and Strathroy, Chath- 

 am, Pt. Pelee and Hamilton, Ont. Most of these 

 casual records are well substantiated but some 

 should probably be re-examined. The paper 

 shows a great amount of research but it is evident 

 that the author was less well acquainted with 

 Canadian literature than he might have been. 

 This may have been due to editing or completion 

 under subsequent hands. 



The Name of the Eastern Hermit Thrush. 

 By Outram Bangs and Thomas E. Penard. Pp. 

 432-434. 



It is stated that the subspecific term pallasi 

 that has long been applied to the eastern form of 

 the Hermit Thrush was first applied to the type 

 form guttata and is therefore a synonym for it. 

 This leaves our eastern bird without a name; 

 that oi faxoni is proposed, thus making the Hermit 

 Thrush of eastern America Hylocichla guttata 

 faxoni Bangs and Penard. 



In General Notes appear: — 



American Common Tern Recovered in West 

 Africa. By Frederick C. Lincoln. P. 453. A 

 striking example of the value of the banding 

 methods of migration study now being developed. 

 A Common Tern banded July 3, 1913, on Mus- 

 congus Bay, Me., by Dr. J. C. Phillips, was taken 

 in August, 1917, on the Niger River Delta in 

 West Africa. It was well known that the Com- 

 mon Tern migrated down both sides of the Atlantic 

 but this evidence that American birds ever pass 

 over to the east side of these vast waters or vice 

 versa comes with a considerable shock of surprise. 

 There is evidently more intermixture of New and 

 Old World blood going on than we ever suspected. 



King Eider in Michigan Waters. By Etta 

 S. Wilson. Pp. 454-455. Reporting the King 

 Eider through the winter of 1920 and 1921 on the 

 St. Clair River. Also reported from Jack Miner's 

 place near Kingsville, Ont. An unusual number 

 of Snowy Owls were also taken the same season. 



Magpies and Live Stock. By T. C. Stephens. 

 Pp. 458-459. Further notes on the attacks on 

 live stock by Magpies, in the Black Hills of North 

 Dakota, and in Nebraska. The indications are 

 that the habit is newly developed and though 

 wide-spread is local and perhaps individual. The 

 evidence shows, however, that the birds in some 



cases attack healthy animals (those free from 

 sores or wounds.). 



The Black-backed Kamchatkan Wagtail. 

 By John E. Thayer and Outram Bangs. Reports 

 the capture of a specimen on one of the outermost 

 of the Aleutian Islands, May 4, 1913, thus adding 

 the species to the North American list. 



The Criterion of the Trinomils. By Jos. 

 Grinnell. In this the writer takes exception to 

 the methods of presentation followed by Mr. 

 Oberholser in his claim of the specific identity of 

 the Sand-hill and Little Brown Cranes. He notes 

 that intergraduation in size is exhibited by a 

 large series of measurements but wants to know 

 what those measurements are and to be assured 

 that similar birds were compared and not young, 

 poorly developed Sandhills with adult Little 

 Browns. The point is well taken. We are not 

 prepared to take the say-so of any authority upon 

 an important question without having access to 

 the evidence upon which it is based. He also 

 raises the question of whether in examinations of 

 such character "obvious 'sports,' a runt say" 

 should be disregarded as falling "outside of the 

 polygon of normal variation in the species." He 

 also stresses the necessity of adhering strictly to 

 the intergradation criterion of subspecific status. 

 He deprecates the use of such inferences as that a 

 "form is clearly a Geographic race" and therefore 

 subspecific without intergradation being shown to 

 exist, claiming that species as well as subspecies 

 can originate through geographic influences, a 

 conclusion that seems too obvious to dispute. 



Under Recent Literature: — 



Mabbot on the Food of Shoal Water Ducks. 

 Bull. 862, U.S. Dept. Agri., Dec. 1920, price 

 25cts. from Supt. Public Documents, Washington. 

 This is a resume of the food habits of Gadwall, 

 Baldpate, Teal, Pintail and Wood Duck. The 

 Mallard and Black Duck were similarly reported 

 on by McAtee in Bull. 720, of the same series in 

 1918. 



Lincoln's Instructions in Bird Banding, U.S. 

 Dept. Agr., Circular 170, price 5cts. from Dept. 

 Public Documents, Washington. Mr. Lincoln 

 has charge of the bird-banding activities of the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey. This circular 

 consists of instructions in methods and procedure. 



Nesting of the American Hawk Owl. Oologist, 

 XXXVIII, March 1, 1921. By E. S. Norman of 

 Kalavala, Man. is noted. 



A Revision of the Races of Dendroica audu- 

 boni., Ohio Journal of Science. XXI, May, 1921. 

 By H. C. Oberholser. Four races of the species 

 are recognized. It is not apparent from the 

 context which of these he refers to our western 

 provinces. 



