Book News and Reviews 



1S7 



need much verification by professionals 

 before they can form a really secure basis 

 for any abstract theory. 



Of local lists there is one by Mr. VV. W. 

 Cooke, on Labrador, a continuation of 

 Mr. Mousley's birds of Hatley, Quebec, 

 and one by Mr. A. P. Smith on birds of 

 Kerr County, Texas. Two New Forms of 

 Petrels from the Bermudas Mstrelala 

 cahow and Ptiffinus puffinus hcrmudce arc 

 described by Messrs. Nichols and Mow- 

 bray. 



The 'Auk' closes with some controver- 

 sial matters under 'Correspondence' and a 

 brief obituary notice of Daniel Giraud 

 Elliot, one of the most distinguished of 

 the men who have adorned the science of 

 ornithology. — J. D. 



The Condor. — The March number of 

 'The Condor' with seven general articles 

 and twenty-eight illustrations presents an 

 unusually varied and interesting series of 

 subjects. A remarkable set of photographs 

 of 'Sea Gulls at the Panama-Pacific 

 International Exposition' taken by Joseph 

 Mailliard shows the abundance and tame- 

 ness of the half-dozen species of these 

 birds which formed a characteristic feature 

 of the exposition. 



Mrs. Bailey's 'Birds of the Dakota 

 Prairie' is continued with an account of the 

 birds observed on the lakes. The White- 

 winged Scoter, at its southernmost breed- 

 ing-place on Stump Lake, N. D., naturally 

 receives special attention, but the habits of 

 the Black Tern, Franklin's Gull and several 

 species of Ducks are also mentioned. 



A unique account of the little-known 

 'Farallon Rails of San Diego County' is 

 given by Huey, based on seven years of 

 observation. Among several interesting 

 facts may be mentioned that the birds 

 seem to be resident in this region, that 

 their food consists largely of an Isopod 

 crustacean {Allonisctis mirahilis), that the 

 number of eggs varies from 4 to 8, and the 

 nesting dates extend from March 24 to 

 May 25. 



Two interesting life-history papers will 



be found in M. P. Skinner's 'Nutcrackers 

 of Yellowstone Park' and W. C. New- 

 berry's 'Chapter in the Life History of the 

 Wren Tit.' Skinner notes that Nutcrack- 

 ers combine the peculiar habits of Wood- 

 peckers, Crows, and Jays. They will eat 

 anything, and in the Park "build their 

 nests in February and bring forth their 

 naked young in March, long before the 

 snow has left the ground." The eggs are 

 laid about March i, and incubation lasts 

 twenty-two days. The Wren-Tit, although 

 an abundant bird in the hills about 

 Berkeley, Calif., is so secretive in its nest- 

 ing-habits that its eggs are seldom seen. 

 In a nest under observation in 1915, the 

 set of three eggs was completed April 2, 

 the young hatched April 20, and left the 

 nest May 6, indicating that incubation 

 lasts eighteen days and the j'oung remain 

 in the nest only about sixteen days. 



A local list comprising notes on 'Some 

 Species of Land Birds of Tillamook 

 County, Oregon,' is contributed byjewett, 

 based on observations made on eighty 

 species during the last three years. 



Howell contributes to the discussion of 

 vernacular names a short note in the form 

 of an objection to the term .Audubon 

 Canyon Wren as a substitute for Dotted 

 Canyon Wren. He suggests instead the 

 name Ridgway's Canyon Wren, in honor 

 of the describer, with the explanation 

 "why not be uniform and call the birds 

 either after the describer, or as those 

 gentlemen intended they should be 

 named." 



Under the caption 'The New Museum of 

 Comparative Oology,' Dawson outlines 

 an ambitious plan for a museum at Santa 

 Barbara, Calif., which while giving special 

 attention to Oology will be devoted to the 

 advancement of ornithology in its broadest 

 sense. The keynote of the new institution 

 is cooperation and the plan which may 

 require twenty-five years for its realization 

 calls for the construction of buildings 

 which will cost $150,000 and an endow- 

 ment fund of over half a million dollars. — 

 T. S. P. 



