IOO 



Bird- Lore 



With No. 38 — the beginning of a new vol- 

 ume — Lynds Jones again takes the editor- 

 ship of the ' Bulletin,' which with the new 

 cover, fresh type, and general rearrangement 

 approaches more closely the modern maga- 

 zine. Besides a number of shorter articles, 

 B. T. Gault gives an interesting account 

 on 'Food Habits of the Wilson Snipe,' 

 and N. Hollister's ' Notes on the Winter 

 Birds of Arkansas.' Very little has he 

 written about the birds of the state and 

 consequently reliable lists are very welcome. 

 We cannot help thinking that the Brewer's 

 Blackbirds mentioned really were Bronze 

 Grackles.— A. K. F. 



The Condor. — The January number of 

 ' The Condor ' opens with an illustrated 

 article on "A Trip to Morro Lake," by 

 Walter K. Fisher, containing an interesting 

 account of the desert region at the foot of 

 the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, and of 

 birds observed there during the summer of 

 1901. Williams contributes the first instal- 

 ment of "A Study of Bird Songs," and Gil- 

 man gives an account of the habits of the 

 "Crissal Thrasher in California." Beck's 

 article on "The Wingless Cormorant of the 

 Galapagos," although brief, merits special 

 mention since it contains what purports to 

 be the first published ha ; f-tone of the re- 

 markable Cormorant {Phalacrocorax har- 

 risi), which has thus far been found only 

 about Narborough Island. Among the im- 

 portant short notes are Stephens' record of 

 the occurrence of Lawrence's Goldfinch in 

 New Mexico just east of the continental 

 divide; Maillard's records of two specimens 

 the Saw- Whet Owl (Nyctala), in Marion 

 county, and Ridgway's record of the Elf 

 Owl (Micropallas nuhitneyi) in Kern county, 

 Cal. Grinnell corrects a few errors in 

 identification which have crept into some of 

 his publications on west coast birds — an 

 excellent idea which should commend itself 

 to others, since mistakes in identification are 

 likely to be made by almost any one, and 

 when once published are apt to multiply 

 erroneous records unless properly corrected. 



This number, the first of the fourth 

 volume, is printed on heavier paper and 

 presents a greatly improved appearance in its 



new cover. There is, however, still room 

 for improvement in the reproduction of 

 illustrations and in certain typographical 

 features. The use of the same bold-faced 

 type for headings and for lists of species 

 gives the final page of the first paper the 

 appearance of an advertisement, and the 

 juxtaposition of single and double column 

 matter produces anything but a pleasing 

 effect. The single column may be necessary 

 to accommodate illustrations in the case of 

 longer articles, but the reason for its use for 

 ' general notes ' and not for other depart- 

 ments is not evident. 



Three new rules for the preparation of 

 manuscript have been adopted: (1) omis- 

 sion of the possessive form in common 

 names of bird; (2) use of single i in specific 

 names formed from personal names — Nut- 

 talli, not Nuttallii; (3) use of lower case 

 letters for common names, except in a few 

 cases. The first and last rules are purely 

 matters of taste, but the second involves a 

 modification of Canon XL of the A. O. U. 

 code of nomenclature, which requires the 

 original orthography of a name to be rigidly 

 preserved. Whatever be the advantage of 

 convenience and uniformity, the fact remains 

 that this change is an emendation. The 

 same arguments could be used with still 

 greater force for uniform spelling of such 

 names as carulea, hiemalis, pennsylvanica, 

 etc., but experience has shown that con- 

 fusion instead of convenience result from 

 change and that emendation for any pur- 

 pose in one class of cases is the entering 

 wedge which may lead to trouble in others. 



Book News 



' Everybody's Magazine ' has published 

 a notable series of articles on water birds 

 by H. K. Job, illustrated by the author's 

 admirable photographs from nature. It is 

 satisfactory to learn that these articles are 

 later to appear in book form from the press 

 of Doubleday, Page & Company. 



'American Ornithology ' is presenting 

 colored pictures designed to illustrate the 

 distinguishing color-marks of birds, in which 

 surprisingly satisfactory results are obtained 

 by the use of only one or two colors. 



