284 



Bird - Lore 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The October number of ' The 

 Auk' opens with two papers by A. 

 H. Clark on the Parrots and Macaws of 

 the Antilles. Digging among the hazv ac- 

 counts of early writers, Mr. Clark has pieceil 

 together a description of an extinct Parrot 

 of Martinique, which he names Amazona 

 martinica, Gmelin's name i-iolacea being 

 available for another extinct Parrot of 

 Guadeloupe. While the practice of nam- 

 ing vanished birds from the tales of ancient 

 travelers is not new, its usefulness is some- 

 what questionable, and we may, perhaps, 

 look forward to the day when the Roc of 

 ' Sinbad the Sailor ' will be furnished 

 with an appropriate scientific name. 



A well-annotated list of the birds of the 

 Bahamas, by J. H, Riley, next attracts our 

 attention; and G. F. Breninger asking 'Are 

 the Habits of Birds Changing?" gives ex- 

 amples of various Arizona species that have 

 adapted their nesting sites to new conditions. 

 A journal of ' A Third Trip to the High 

 Sierras' near Lake Tahoe is written bv 

 M. S. Ray, and we would only criticize his 

 comparison of the songs of the Russet-backed 

 and Hermit Thrushes of the region. To 

 our ear it is the song of the former that is 

 "loud and ringing," and the notes of the 

 latter "subdued," not the reverse, as Mr. 

 Ray puts it, — it would not be difficult, 

 though, to confuse the songsters. More 

 mountain species will be found in a list of 

 the ' Summer Birds of Mt. Pinos, Cal..' by 

 J. G. Grinnell. 'The Direction of Flight 

 in the Fall Migration at New Haven, 

 Conn ,' by L. B. Bishop, is a study of the 

 migrants passing a certain hill. Those at 

 a higher elevation flv west, and those at a 

 lower, north. 



The breeding of Bachman's Warbler in 

 South Carolina, with a description of its 

 juvenile plumage, is recorded by W^illiam 

 Brewster, and there is an article by A. T. 

 Wayne on a surprising number of rare birds 

 of South Carolina. 



J. A. Allen takes issue with Mr. Ober- 

 holser's conclusions regarding Swainson's 

 genera, and also reviews, at great length, 

 Mr. H. L. Clark's paper on specific and 



subspecific ditferences, but the lay-reader 

 will be more ititerested in the many notes 

 and items that are published. Among them 

 we find that sixteen specimens of the Ruff 

 have been taken in North America, and 

 that the English Sparrow has at last reached 

 Tucson, Arizona. 



An obituary notice of Walter E. Bryant^ 

 wlio died May 21, 1905, marks the passing 

 of a prominent California ornithologist. — 

 J. D. Jr. 



The Condor. — The September number 

 of ■ The Condor ' opens w ith the first part 

 of Finley's paper entitled 'Among the Sea 

 Birds off the Oregon Coast,' and illustrated 

 with nine cuts from Bohlman's superb 

 photographs. This part deals with the 

 birds found on Three Arch Rocks, sixty 

 miles south of the mouth of the Columbia 

 River. An account of the life and work of 

 the late Walter E. Bryant, accompanied by 

 a portrait, is contributed by Waller K. 

 Fisher, and is followed by a list of Bryant's 

 ornithological writings, comprising fort}"-four 

 titles, compiled by Joseph Grinnell. These 

 two articles give a good idea of Bryant's con- 

 tributions to West Coast ornithology. It is 

 noticeable, however, that an important 

 paper on Cerros Island, published in 1886, 

 is omitted. This article, containing the 

 first list of birds of the island, with notes on 

 twenty-seven species, appeared in 'Forest 

 and Stream," Vol. XXVII, pp. 62-64. 



Three faunal papers in this number also 

 deser\'e special mention. These are the 

 concluding part of Kaeding's 'Birds from 

 the West Coast of Lower California and 

 Adjacent Islands,' Dixon's 'Dr\- Notes from 

 Dry Lake' on San Gorgonio Peak, Cali- 

 fornia, and Bishop's 'Notes on a Small 

 Collection of California Birds," from San 

 Bernardino and San Diego counties. The 

 last-mentioned paper contains a description 

 of Oberholser"s Vireo. Vireo huttoni ober- 

 holseri. based on a specimen collected at 

 Witch Creek, in San Diego county, in 

 April, 1904. 



The series of portraits of eminent Euro- 

 pean ornithologists, begun in March, is 

 continued by those of Dr. Alphonse Dubois, 

 of Brussels, Prof. Max Fiirbrin^er, of Heidel- 



