I02 



Bird - Lore 



say on the ill-advised 'Passenger Pigeon 

 Investigation.' It is probably the first time 

 on record that a species has become extinct 

 with press agents 'hot-foot' on its trail. 



'The Warblers in Wayne Co., Michigan, 

 in 1909,' by Mr. J. C. Wood, seems to be 

 more an array of notebook extracts, 

 rather than the digested observations so 

 much needed in the study of migration. 

 Mr. Frank Smith records the 'Double- 

 crested Cormorants Breeding in Central 

 Illinois.' Might these birds not be the 

 form floridaniis? 



Space does not permit critical reviews 

 of several local lists. Mr. A. A. Saunders 

 includes 198 species and races in 'A 

 Preliminary List of the Birds of Gallatin 

 Co., Montana;' Mr. S. S. Visher, 154 

 species in an 'Annotated List of the Birds 

 of Harding Co., Northwestern South 

 Dakota;' and Mr. J. C. Phillips has a long 

 list, the result of 'A Year's Collecting in 

 the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico,' wherein 

 a new Owl {Strix virgata tamaulipensis) , 

 a new Wren {Heleodytes narinosus) , and a 

 new Yellow Warbler {Dendroica cestiva 

 ineditus) are described. It will be noted 

 that the much-abused asterisk serves one 

 purpose in Mr. Saunders' hands and 

 another in Mr. Visher's, but of far 

 greater importance is the fact that only 

 Mr. Phillips has followed the new A. O. U. 

 Check-List in the use of trinomials. It 

 makes us wonder if 'The Auk' is going to 

 to recognize the Check-List as a guide, or 

 adhere to usage current before trinomials 

 were properly understood. This is not a 

 matter for discussion here, but the veriest 

 tyro can grasp the idea that a binomial 

 means two names and a trinomial three, 

 and see the inconsistency (for example, 

 on p. 14) of "Melospiza melodia" (meaning 

 Melospiza melodia melodia, the Eastern 

 race), being placed on the same footing as 

 Melospiza georgiana, a species with no races. 

 The Auk' can hardly afford to ignore the 

 Check-List method of using trinomials. 



Mr. John H. Sage's report of the twenty- 

 eighth annual meeting of the A. O. U. 

 indicates the vigor of the Union. An 

 unusual number of notes and reviews 

 swells the issue to 152 pages. — J. D., Jr. 



The Condor. — By a vote of 63 to 44, 

 the members of the Cooper Ornithological 

 Club have decided against the use of 

 simplified spelling in ' The Condor.' The 

 editor, gracefully yielding to the wishes of 

 the majority, has brought out the opening 

 number of the new volume greatly im- 

 proved in appearance, not only typo- 

 graphically, but in the number of illus- 

 trations. All but one of the longer articles 

 are accompanied by half-tones, which 

 comprise two plates and fifteen text 

 figures. Of the five main articles, Keyes' 

 'History of Certain Great Horned Owls,' 

 and Brewster's 'Courtship of the American 

 Golden-eye,' both well illustrated, deserve 

 especial mention. The former contains 

 an interesting account of a family of 

 Owls observed in 1906 and 1907 near Mt. 

 Vernon, Iowa; the latter some very care- 

 fully recorded observations of the Golden- 

 eye, at Back Bay Basin, Boston, in 

 February, 1909. Shelton describes the 

 'Nesting of the California Cuckoo,' in 

 Sonoma county, and Bowles contributes 

 a brief account of the nesting habits of 

 'The Pallid Wren-Tit {Chamaa fasciata 

 henshawiy in the vicinity of Santa 

 Barbara. Under the title ' Collecting 

 Socorro and Black Petrels in Lower 

 California,' Osburn gives the results of 

 two trips to the Coronado Islands in 

 July, 1909, and June, 1910. 



Among the 'Editorial Notes and News' 

 occurs the interesting statement that 

 "there are at present 525 species of birds 

 definitely recorded from within the limits 

 of the State of California. Of these 163 

 are water birds and 362 land birds." This 

 is undoubtedly the largest number known 

 from any state in the Union except Texas. 

 Announcement is made of "the prepara- 

 tion of a sumptuous work upon the 'Birds of 

 California,' " by W. L. Dawson, "with the 

 cooperation of the members of the Cooper 

 Ornithological Club." Judging by the 

 author's well-known works on the 'Birds 

 of Ohio' and 'Birds of Washington,' and 

 the fact that four or five years are to be 

 devoted to the task, we may reasonably 

 expect that the rich avifauna of the state 

 will be adequately treated. — -T. S. P. 



