212 



Bird - Lore 



in Illinois, by Gross, and description of the 

 nesting of the Philadelphia Vireo, by Lewis, 

 are concluded from the January number. In 

 the former, chapters on food and life history 

 are accompanied by several plates illustrating 

 very completely in photographs the growth 

 of the young and also plumages and plumage 

 changes of grown individuals (from skins). 

 Mr. Lewis goes into description of the voice 

 of the Philadelphia Vireo in great detail, and 

 his remarks on that subject will be of value 

 for reference. He finds as regards the young 

 being fed "that the feedings exhibit a marked 

 periodicity, as though the young were given 

 regular meals, with intervals of comparative 

 rest," and that this is probably not chance 

 but intentional on the part of the parent 

 birds. We have here an interesting theme 

 for investigation and discussion bearing on 

 the life of nestling birds in general. 



In 'Nesting Habits of the Nighthawk at 

 Tacoma, Wash.,' J. H. Bowles presents the 

 history of a brood of Nighthawks raised on 

 the gravel roof of an apartment house. The 

 location afforded unusual opportunities for 

 observation, which were well utilized, and the 

 account is of great interest. In summing up 

 the characters of the precocial young he says 

 (p. 216): "Their actions and general resem- 

 blance, until their primaries began to 

 lengthen, were so strongly suggestive of an 

 abnormally smart young grouse that we must 

 wonder what manner of birds their remote 

 ancestors could have been." In this connec- 

 tion, young occur in various unrelated groups 

 of animals which differ not only from the 

 adults but from any probable ancestors, and 

 in the reviewer's opinion the young Night- 

 hawk is a case of the sort, its peculiarities 

 being due purely to the ground-nesting habits 

 of its parents, and giving no indication of 

 phylogeny. W. H. Bergtold, in 'The English 

 Sparrow and the Motor Vehicle' finds that 

 there has been a decrease of this bird in 

 Denver, coincident with a decrease in the 

 horse population and amount of street sweep- 

 ings, and correlated with the introduction, 

 and multiplied uses of the motor vehicle. 

 Oberholser lists proposed changes in the 

 A. O. U. check-list. 



Aside from various items of a faimal nature 



in General Notes, 'A List of the Birds of 

 Royal Palm Hammock, Florida' is a faimal 

 paper by A. H. Howell. "This hammock, 

 containing about 400 acres, largely covered 

 with a dense tropical jungle, together with a 

 considerable tract of the surrounding Ever- 

 glades, has been set aside recently as a reser- 

 vation." Possibly it will provide a perma- 

 nent refuge to such birds as the Limpkin and 

 Ivory-billed Woodpecker, both of which 

 species are listed as occurring there, though 

 rare. 



Among interesting items which catch the 

 eye in General Notes, A. W. Anthony men- 

 tions capturing a number of Loons while 

 fishing with live bait in the waiters of San 

 Diego Bay. In every case the bait was taken 

 near the bottom. "From the fact that the 

 hook was often well down in the throat" he 

 thinks "that fish are often swallowed without 

 coming to the surface." A. T. Wa3Tie relates 

 seeing a Loggerhead Shrike attack and kill a 

 Phoebe, a bird which one would suppose too 

 large for it. By study of differences in the 

 songs of birds of the same species, A. A. Saun- 

 ders finds that individuals often sing for a 

 part only of the song period of the species, 

 which would lead to underestimates of num- 

 bers when based on singing males at a given 

 time.— J. T. N. 



Wilson Bulletin. — The March, 192 1, 

 issue contains a short article on the breed- 

 ing of the Bachman's Sparrow in Ten- 

 nessee, by Albert F. Ganier, whose name 

 is unfortunately misspelled. Mr. W. J. 

 Erichsen continues his notes on the breed- 

 ing water-birds of Chatham County, Ga., 

 and we are impressed chiefly by their 

 scarcity. The main article of the issue, 

 however, is the first installment of a 

 study of 'Comparative Periods of Nestling 

 Life of Some North American Nidicolas,' 

 by Frank L. Burns. Mr. Burns shows with 

 considerable success that the division be- 

 tween altricial and prsecocial birds is by 

 no means as hard and fast as the definitions 

 of those terms would lead one to suppose, 

 and in support of his thesis adduces many 

 little-known facts in the life histories of the 

 nestlings of various families of North 



