Book News and Reviews 



165 



investigation. A Yellow-throated Vireo, 

 which had wandered hundreds of miles out 

 of its normal range, is recorded ' as nar- 

 rowly scrutinized in a quaking ash grove, 

 May 12, 1895.' Although Franklin's 

 Grouse undoubtedly occurs on Mt. Adams 

 and about Cowlitz Pass, the remarks under 

 this caption evidently refer to the Sooty or 

 ' Blue Grouse ' and not to the Fool Hen, 

 which is a typical boreal species dwelling 

 among firs and spruces, and not in the 

 lower mountain ranges of the Upper 

 Sonoran and Transition Zones. — A. K. F. 



The Condor. — The July-August num- 

 ber of ' The Condor ' contains several in- 

 teresting articles on the nesting habits of 

 western birds, among which may be men- 

 tioned Bowles' ' Notes on the Black- 

 throated Gray Warbler,' Gilman's 'Nest- 

 ing of the Little Flammulated Screech Owl 

 on San Gorgonio Mountain ' in southern 

 California, and Bailey's ' Nesting of the 

 Ruby - crowned Kinglet' near Kenai, 

 Alaska. The Kinglet's nest was found in 

 a dense spruce about thirty feet from the 

 ground, and is described as pyriform in 

 shape, with the small end down, beautifully 

 made of moss, fur, and silky, fibrous sub- 

 stances compactly woven together. On 

 June 6 it contained eleven eggs slightly ad- 

 vanced in incubation. Two sets of eggs of 

 Clarke's Nutcracker are recorded by Johnson 

 from Box Elder Mountain, Utah, one with 

 five eggs collected on April 8, when the 

 snow was five feet deep under the tree, 

 and the other taken on April 17. 



Under the title 'Notes on the Verdin,' 

 Gilman calls attention to the winter nests 

 of Auriparus flwviceps, constructed for 

 roosting purposes, which are built by both 

 sexes and differ somewhat from the breed- 

 ing nests. An interesting account of two 

 Yellow-billed Magpies raised in captivity 

 is given by Noack, showing that the Cali- 

 fornia bird has remarkable vocal powers 

 and considerable ability to articulate. 

 These characteristics would seem to render 

 it more attractive as a pet than the European 

 Magpie, which is often imported as a cage 

 bird. The Southern White-headed Wood- 

 pecker (Xenopicus grwvirostris ) is sep- 



arated from typical X. albolawatus, by 

 Grinnell, on characters which are "slight, 

 and apparently exist only in dimensions, 

 chiefly of the bill." In spite of the fact 

 that. "individual variation brings an over- 

 lapping of characters " and that " geographi- 

 cal continuity of ranges possibly exists," the 

 new form is given the rank of a full 

 species! — T. S. P. 



Book News 



Houghton, Mifflin & Co., announce for 

 early publication a ' Hand-book of the Birds 

 of the Western United States,' by Florence 

 Merriam Bailey. The book will be fully 

 illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and 

 will, it is needless to say, satisfactorily sup- 

 ply the long-existing demand for a work 

 devoted to western birds. 



We are informed that the results of Dr. 

 R. M. Strong's long-continued studies on 

 the colors of feathers will be published by 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology dur- 

 ing the autumn. 



The Southern Pacific Railroad Company 

 has published, in attractive form, Mr. H. P. 

 Attwater's admirable address to Texas farm- 

 ers, on ' Birds in their Relation to Agricul- 

 ture.' Copies of this pamphlet can doubtless 

 be obtained from Mr. Attwater at Houston, 

 Texas. 



Not only the personal friends of Mr. Otto 

 Widmann, but readers of his characteristic 

 and delightful sketches of bird life, will 

 learn with extreme regret of his loss, by fire, 

 of field notes covering a period of thirty 

 years' observation. 



Circular No. 38 of the Biological Sur- 

 vey of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, calls the attention of sports- 

 men, dealers in game, and transportation 

 companies to the laws relative to the ship- 

 ment of game, insectivorous birds and birds 

 killed for millinery purposes. 



From the same source a chart is issued 

 giving a synopsis of the game laws of the 

 United States, and also, as Farmers' Bulletin 

 No. 160, a summary of the provisions of the 

 game laws for 1902. 



