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Bird - Lore 



allowances for perspective, the scale 

 employed varies so that, for example, the 

 Cowbird is larger than the Osprey, the 

 Herring Gull smaller than the Woodcock. 

 It would have cost no more to reproduce 

 a correct original than a poor one, and we 

 cannot, therefore, find an excuse for the 

 unworthy form given to this admirable 

 conception. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The new volume for 

 191 7 opens with a rather startling theory 

 that the White-throated Swift may pos- 

 sibly hibernate to a certain extent. In 

 'Further Notes on the White- throated 

 Swifts of Slover Mountain,' near Colton, 

 Calif., Wilson C. Hannastates that "these 

 birds are residents here throughout the 

 year. Many days often pass by during 

 the fall and winter when no Swifts are 

 seen, and then at some unexpected time 

 they appear in large numbers." In Janu- 

 ary, 1913, during a cold wave, eight per- 

 fectly healthy Swifts were removed from a 

 crevice where, with many others, they 

 seemed to be roosting in a dazed or numb 

 state. After being kept in a room for six 

 hours they were released, and all flew 

 away in a dazed fashion. "I had hitherto 

 thought that they were numb from the 

 cold . . . but it has been suggested to 

 me that possibly they were hibernating." 

 The paper contains some important notes 

 on the nesting of this species, with meas- 

 urements of six sets of eggs, but, unfor- 

 tunately, omits the dates when the eggs 

 were collected. 



In 'Birds of the Humid Coast,' Mrs. 

 Bailey gives a graphic picture of the habits 

 of some of the species, particularly the 

 Gulls, Cormorants, and Sooty Grouse 

 found in the vicinity of Tillamook Bay, 

 Ore. F. S. Hanford contributes an article 

 on 'The Townsend Solitaire' with notes on 

 five nests found in the Sierras at altitudes 

 varying from 3,700 to 7,500 feet. As 

 a result of observations made in 19 15 

 and 1916, George Willett, in 'Further 

 Notes on the Birds of Forrester Island, 

 Alaska,' adds twenty-two species to the 



list of birds known from this Bird Reser- 

 vation. 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell has made a critical 

 revision of 'The Subspecies of Hesperi- 

 phona espertina,' and now recognizes 

 four forms of the Evening Grosbeak. The 

 typical subspecies remains unchanged, but 

 the name montana is transferred to the 

 Mexican form and that from the Rocky 

 Mountain region is renamed H. v. war- 

 reni, and two subspecies are described 

 as new, H. v. brooksi from British Colum- 

 bia, and H. v. californica, from Crane 

 Flat, Mariposa County, Calif. The size 

 of the bill constitutes the principal differ- 

 ence, but not a single measurement is 

 given, and future students must depend on 

 these outlines of bills and brief statements 

 of the relative 'degrees of thickness' of the 

 bill to distinguish the several subspecies. 

 — T. S. P. 



Book News 



The May issue of the 'Nature Study 

 Review' is a bird number with articles by 

 Elsa Guerdrum Allen on Wild Ducks with 

 a Color Key to the Ducks of the Eastern 

 United States; Louis Agassiz Fuertes, 

 on Hummingbirds; Gilbert H. Trafton 

 on The Thrush Family; Laura A. L. 

 Turner on Tree Swallows; C. W. Leister 

 on The Chestnut-sided Warbler; Guy A. 

 Bailey on Bird Protection; and half-a- 

 dozen other authors supply minor con- 

 tributions. The Editor gives an outline 

 for bird-study which has stood the test of 

 years and writes sympathetically of John 

 Burroughs. There are a number of excel- 

 lent illustrations, notably those of wild 

 Ducks by Dr. Arthur A. Allen, and the 

 prose content of the magazine is good, 

 readable, popular ornithology. 



We cannot speak so highly for the 

 verses. Poetic license may sanction cer- 

 tain liberties with words but not with 

 facts, and poetry which sends the Blue- 

 bird to "Orient isles," and makes the 

 House Wren sing with "tail up" does not 

 ring true. A verse, apparently addressed 

 to the Red-winged Blackbird, is headed 

 "Phoebe Bird," but perhaps this is a slip 

 for which the author is not responsible. 



