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Bird - Lore 



song, which gives the species its name, with 

 remarkable persistence through the day, 

 despite the midday heat, averaging seven 

 or eight times per minute. The male takes 

 no part in construction of the nest or care 

 of the young. In fact, in one case when 

 his mate was killed by a Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk, a male continued regular singing 

 while the near-by young starved to death. 

 This article is illustrated with four full- 

 page plates, photographs of habitat, and 

 nests with eggs and young. 



Harrison F. Lewis (in a paper which is 

 to be continued) gives a detailed narrative 

 of the behavior of a nesting pair of the 

 Philadelphia Vireo near the city of Quebec, 

 beginning with the nest under construc- 

 tion. There is a careful summary of the 

 known occurrences of the Bohemian Wax- 

 wing in New England by Horace W. 

 Wright, who met with this species in 

 Massachusetts in the late winter of 19 1 8-i g . 



More technical are 'Notes on Ortalis 

 vetula and Its Allies,' Miller and Griscom, 

 reviewing this genus of Guans which are 

 game-birds replacing the Grouse, to which 

 they are unrelated, in the tropics of the 

 New World. Oberholser finds that the 

 Holboell's Grebe is not a distinct species 

 but a race of an Eurasian bird, as the 

 Wilson's Snipe is of the Old World Snipe. 

 Little Brown and Sandhill Cranes are 

 races of the same species; but the American 

 Bittern, though that bird's representative 

 in America, is distinct from the European 

 Bittern. He also separates a northern from 

 a southern race of Blue Jay. There is an 

 account of the 38th meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union held in 

 Washington, by T. S. Palmer, its Secretary. 



Under the general heading of faunal 

 papers may be classed one on the birds of 

 Hatley, Quebec, in 1919, by Mousley, 

 as also some of the general notes. Among 

 numerous records of unusual occurrences in 

 'General Notes' are three of the Arkansas 

 Kingbird in Atlantic states — Massachu- 

 setts (September and November) and New 

 Jersey (November). These corroborate a 

 record from Montauk, New York, in the 

 Bird-Lore Christmas Census, which see. 

 Judging from dates of migration of our 



eastern Kingbird it would seem that these 

 stragglers far from their regular migration 

 route are at a loss to find their way south. 

 Charles L. Whittle describes a nest of the 

 Water Ousel placed on a horizontal 

 timber under the eaves of a lean-to directly 

 over and some eight feet above the water 

 of a small stream flowing through Fort 

 Bidwell, California.— J. T. N. 



The Wilson Bulletin. — The Septem- 

 ber, 1920, number contains 'Some Inter- 

 esting Records of Nebraska Birds for the 

 Year 1919.' by Clarence E. Mickel and 

 Ralph W. Dawson, in which four species 

 are added to the state, based on specimens 

 secured. David C. Hilton gives some 

 'Notes on the Birds of the Fort Leaven- 

 worth Reservation, Kansas,' based on very 

 fragmentary observation during the spring 

 of 1919. Only eighty-two species were 

 noted, but some interesting local informa- 

 tion about several was secured, showing 

 that lack of opportunity is often more 

 apparent than real. Dayton Stoner 

 discusses the frequency of Whip-poor-will 

 calls, and Wetmore publishes an addition 

 to his list of birds observed near Minco, 

 Central Oklahoma. 



In the December issue Alvin R. Cahn 

 lists 108 species observed in Itasca County, 

 northern Minnesota, from mid-July to 

 mid-August, a useful record in a region 

 where civilization will inevitably work 

 much havoc. Howard Clark Brown pre- 

 sents interesting evidence to show a north- 

 ward movement of the Cardinal in north- 

 central Iowa, and W. G. Ericksen gives 

 some breeding habits of three birds of 

 Chatham County, Georgia. We note that 

 the Ground Dove has decreased nearly to 

 the point of disappearance without any 

 obvious explanation, just as has been 

 recorded in northwest Florida. P. B. 

 Peabody contributes a long review of the 

 'Migration Records for Kansas Birds' 

 by Bessie Price Douthitt, published in 

 previous numbers of the Wilson Bulletin. 

 The improbability of many of the state- 

 ments, and the fact that the data given 

 did not support other statements was 

 noted by the present reviewer in a previ 

 ous issue of this magazine. — L. G. 



