﻿214 



Bird- Lore 



Boulder Reveries. By W. S. Blatchley, 

 Indianapolis, Ind. Nature Pub. Co., 

 1906. i6mo, 230 pages, 10 full-page 

 half-tones. 



Here is a series of pleasing, restful nature 

 essays by a man who is a somewhat unusual 

 combination of poet and scientist. There 

 is no doubting the sincerity of the senti- 

 ment which has prompted expression in 

 these " Reveries," and which, in no small 

 measure, has helped their author to share 

 his joy in the life of the fields with his 

 readers. 



At the same time, Mr. Blatchley conveys 

 much interesting information concerning the 

 flowers, insects, beasts and birds of which 

 he writes. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The July number opens with 

 a paper by W. Stone, entitled 'Some Light 

 on Night Migration.' A conflagration in 

 Philadelphia on March 27, as a matter of 

 fact, threw a great deal of light on a host of 

 passing night migrants! Some of them fell 

 into the flames, but the vast majority pressed 

 steadily on their northward line of flight. 

 On a later page Mr. Stone gives a valuable 

 review of Audubon's works, with exact dates 

 of publication, lists of new species, correc- 

 tions and other matter. 



An able contribution from the pen of L. 

 Stejneger, 'Isolation versus Natural Selec- 

 tion,' contains much food for speculative 

 minds, it being practically a review of 

 H. O. Jenkin's recent paper on variation 

 in the Hairy Woodpecker. The 'List of the 

 Birds of Louisiana' is continued by Messrs. 

 Beyer, Allison and Kopman, the present in- 

 stalment dealing chiefly with migration; 

 and an unusual bird wave of Snowy Owls 

 is discussed at length by R. Deane, who 

 also contributes several more unpublished 

 letters of Audubon and of Baird. 



The Quail of Santa Catalina Island, Cali- 

 fornia, is described as a new species, Loph- 

 ortyx catalinensis by J. Grinnell, and among 

 'General Notes' we find a Hummingbird 

 new to the United States fauna recorded 

 from Arizona by L. B. Bishop. The bird 

 is a young Uranomitra sal-vini, of which 

 Mr. Brewster described the type and only 



other known specimen. Of special interest 

 are H. F. Tufts' notes on the nesting of 

 both species of Crossbill in Nova Scotia. 

 In A. W. Butler's notes on Indiana birds, 

 some measurements are given to the thou- 

 sandth part of an inch. The utility of such 

 refinement applied to birds' wings, tails, 

 etc., is certainly questionable. 



The October number of 'The Auk' opens 

 with 'Some Unpublished Letters of A. Wil- 

 son and John Abbot,' by W. Stone ; followed 

 by extended 'Ornithological Note* from 

 Western Mexico, etc.,' summed into a local 

 list, with illustrations of Boobies, Man-o'- 

 War and Tropic Birds at home by H. H. 

 Bailey. Another local list of 'Birds Observed 

 in the Florida Keys' is by H. W. Fowler, 

 and there is one by J. T. S. Hunn on the 

 birds of Silver City, New Mexico. Still 

 another is by J. H. Fleming on the 'Birds 

 of Toronto, Ontario,' the last deserving of 

 special mention because dates and records 

 seem to have been sifted with unusual care 

 and accuracy. 



A. H. Clark, writing on 'The West 

 India Black Forms of the Genus Ccereba, y 

 considers the black Honey Creepers of St. 

 Vincent and of Grenada merely color phases 

 of the normal Creepers of these islands. 

 W. H. Bergtold writes pleasantly 'Concern- 

 ing the Thick-billed Parrot' of Mexico; 

 C. J. Hunt describes the 'Change of Loca- 

 tion of a Crow Roost,' and I. G. Wheelock 

 gives details of the 'Nesting Habits of the 

 Green Heron.' C. W. Beebe observes 'The 

 Spring Moult of Larus atricilla in a captive 

 Laughing Gull, a photograph showing the 

 winter and the summer hood. He calls atten- 

 tion to the peeling of the sheath of the bill, 

 the color beneath being brighter. 



The odor of gasolene at last pervades even 

 the pages of the staid and respectable 'Auk,' 

 for there is contained therein an up-to-date 

 article 'A-birding in an Auto,' by M. S. 

 Ray. Its value as a list is questionable, — 

 in species in 1,100 miles! — for, while the 

 descriptive portion is entertaining, the hasty 

 list seems superfluous. 



The 'Auk' is to be congratulated on com- 

 pleting its twenty-third year, 518 being the 

 number of pages put forth with unimpaired 

 vitality in 1906. — J. D., Jr. 



