90 



Bird - Lore 



It is to be regretted that Dr. C. W. 

 Richmond's 'A Reprint of the Ornitho- 

 logical Writings of C. T. Rafinesque' was 

 not reproduced by photography from the 

 original. If such reprints are worth doing, 

 they ought to face the camera and thereby 

 escape possible errors. 



Last but not least, we find a brief ac- 

 count of the ' Twenty-si.\th Stated Meet- 

 ing of the A. O. U.' prepared by the Sec- 

 retary. Valuable contributions to the 

 present number of ' The Auk' are the nu- 

 merous reviews from the indefatigable pen 

 of Dr. Allen, our able editor. He does not 

 receive from members of the A. O. U. 

 one-half of the cooperation he deserves, 

 and it is no fault of his that illustrations 

 are lacking from the pages before us. Let 

 bird students take the hint and help with 

 pens and cameras. — J. D., Jr. 



The Condor. — The number for No- 

 vember, 1908, which completes the tenth 

 volume of 'The Condor,' opens very ap- 

 propriately with a paper entitled ' Retro- 

 spective.' In this article, Kaeding reviews 

 not only the history of the magazine dur- 

 ing the decade of its e.xistence, but also 

 the history of the Cooper Ornithological 

 Club, founded in 1893, which first had 

 for its organ 'The Nidologist, ' and later 

 'The Condor.' The importance of this 

 journal to ornithological work in Cali- 

 fornia can scarcely be overestimated, for 

 besides the special publications of the 

 Cooper Ornithological Club, the reports 

 of the Fish Commission, and perhaps a 

 dozen other articles, 'The Condor' con- 

 tains "practically all that has been pub- 

 lished on the Pacific Coast" on ornithology 

 since 1898. 



The present numljer is conspicuous by 

 the absence of the usual local lists, but 

 contains two faunal articles on widely 

 separated regions. 'From Big Creek to 

 Big Basin' is an interesting account of 

 the characteristic birds found by Ray and 

 Heinemann in the redwood belt of Santa 

 Cruz county, California, in June, 1908; 

 and 'A Month's Bird Collecting in Vene- 

 zuela,' is an entertaining narrative of the 

 experiences of Ferry and Dearborn, while 



collecting for the Field Museum of Natu- 

 ral History in April, 1908. Incidentally 

 it may be noted that the Redstart, the 

 Water - Thrush (Seiurus noveboracensis 

 subsp.), and the Lesser Yellowlegs, were 

 found in the vicinity of Caracas. 



'The Arrangement of an Oological Col- 

 lection' is discussed by Massey; Willard 

 describes the nesting habits of the Plum- 

 beous, Stephen's, and Western Warbling 

 Vireos in the Huachuca Mountains, Ari- 

 zona; and Anderson contributes some 

 observations on the 'Nesting of the Pine 

 Siskin at Great Slave Lake.' Prof. Ritter 

 discusses briefly ' Mr. Rockwell's Sugges- 

 tion of Cooperation in Ornithogical 

 Studies.' 



Among the brief notes may be men- 

 tioned the capture of a specimen of the 

 Louisiana Water-Thrush {Seiurus mota- 

 cilla) at Mecca, California on August 17, 

 1908, by L. H. Miller. This is the first 

 record of the species for the state. Cham- 

 bers states that the Least Tern "seems to 

 be on the increase at nearly all of the 

 breeding-grounds in Southern California. " 

 Grinnell, who has recently e.ximined the 

 specimen of the alleged 'Cape Robin' 

 taken at Hay wards, in 1882, concludes that 

 it is a " pale extreme of the Western 

 Robin." 



The volumes of 'The Condor' have 

 gradually increased in size from 148 to 

 252 pages, the tenth volume containing 

 40 pages more than any previous one in 

 the series. — ^T. S. P. 



Book News 



Second editions of Mr. Edward Howe 

 Forbush's important papers, 'Two Years 

 with the Birds on a Farm' and 'Decrease 

 of Certain Birds, and Its Causes with 

 Suggestions for Bird Protection,' and a 

 third edition of his 'Birds as Protectors 

 of Orchards' have been issued by the 

 Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. 



In response to an unexpectedly large 

 demand D. Appleton Company, publish- 

 ers of Chapman's 'Camps and Cruises 

 of an Ornithologist' are printing a special 

 edition of thiit book for the English trade. 



