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Bird - Lore 



sor-tailed and Arkansas Flycatchers and 

 an as yet undescribed form of the Clapper 

 Rail. All the Yellow-throats {Geothlypis 

 trichas) observed, including a "remarkable 

 flight" of thousands of migrants on Sand 

 Key and other unquestionable migrants 

 in the Tortugas, are referred to the south- 

 ern form (G. t. ignota), though it is more 

 than probable that some, if not most, of 

 them were the northern race. — F. M. C. 



Abstract of the Proceedings of the 

 LiNN^AN Society of New York, for 

 the year ending March 11, 1919; con- 

 taining Bird-Banding by Means of 

 Systematic Trapping, by S. Prentiss 

 Baldwin. Date of issue, Dec. 23, 1919. 

 Published by the Society, at the Am- 

 erican Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City. 65 pages; vii plates. 



The first twenty-two pages of this annual 

 contain reports of the fifteen meetings 

 of the Linnaean Society held during the 

 year. Besides brief summaries of the 

 fourteen papers, chiefly on birds, presented 

 before the Society, there is a large number 

 of records and notes on the birds of the 

 country about New York City, of con- 

 siderable interest, especially to the bird- 

 students of that region. 



One of the questions most frequently 

 asked of ornithologists is, 'How long do 

 birds live?' Data on this subject are 

 exceedingly hard to obtain, owing to the 

 obvious difficulty of keeping track of a 

 wild bird throughout its life, and to the 

 unnatural conditions surrounding a cap- 

 tive bird. This, however, is but one of the 

 many questions on which much light will 

 eventually be shed by bird-banding, as is 

 called the marking or ringing of birds 

 with a numbered aluminum band placed 

 around the foot. Heretofore, this has been 

 done chiefly with nestlings and chance- 

 caught adults, trusting almost entirely 

 to luck for ever again laying hands on the 

 band. 



Mr. Baldwin's paper revolutionizes 

 this work. His experiences with his own 

 ingenious methods, detailed in thirty-five 

 pages, show that it is entirely practic- 

 able to trap birds in large numbers, to 

 handle the same individual for several 

 years, sometimes even several times a day 



for weeks, and thus to learn many facts 

 of interest concerning longevity, individual 

 temperament, return to the same summer 

 and winter haunts and way-stations on 

 migration, narrowness of individual winter 

 range (as a flock of White-throated 

 Sparrows within a 100-yard radius), etc. 

 The fourteen excellent photographs illus- 

 trate the nature and locations of Mr. 

 Baldwin's traps and the very important 

 methods of holding a wild bird without 

 injury to it. Reprints of this article 

 may be obtained from the United States 

 Biological Survey at Washington, which 

 has taken over the supervision of bird- 

 banding on this continent. (See Bird- 

 Lore, Vol. XXII, 1920, May-June, p. 157.) 

 A list of the 116 members of the Linnsean 

 Society and an index to this issue of the 

 'Abstract,' complete the issue. — C. H. R. 



Second Ten- Year Index to The Con- 

 dor. Vols. XI-XX, 1909-1918. By 

 J. R. Pemberton, Hollywood, Calif. 

 Published by the Cooper Ornithological 

 Club, Aug. 15, 1919. 92 pages. Price $3. 



Everyone possessing the last ten vol- 

 umes of The Condor should also have a 

 copy of this Index to them, and, even 

 without the volumes to which it refers, 

 the Index alone, with its annotations, 

 makes a valuable work of reference. 

 Mr. Pemberton deserves the thanks of 

 all working ornithologists for the thorough- 

 ness with which he has performed this 

 'labor of love.' 



In this connection it is interesting to 

 note that every issue of The Condor con- 

 tained in the ten volumes in question has 

 been reviewed in Bird-Lore, and we 

 trust has thereby been brought to the 

 attention of many bird-students outside 

 the ranks of the Cooper Club. — F. M. C._ 



Book News 



The New York Zoological Society pub- 

 lishes in 'Zoologica' for April, 1920, an 

 exceptionally interesting article on the 

 courtship of the Sage Grouse with pen and 

 ink sketches, and a full-page colored plate 

 showing the remarkable poses assumed by 

 the male in the mating season. 



