28o 



Bird - Lore 



marked species, what hope is there for sub- 

 specific records — 'sight' or any other 

 kind! We may well take the lesson to 

 heart. 



Mr. H. S. Swarth describes in 'A 

 Revision of the Marsh Wrens of Cali- 

 fornia' a new race, Telmatodytes palus- 

 tris (Bst'uarinus , and Mr. H. C; Oberholser 

 in 'Notes on North American Birds, II' 

 reinstates several races that have not been 

 recognized in the A. O. U. Check-List. 

 Mr. Oberholser also presents 'A Synopsis 

 of the Races of Bombycilla garrula' recog- 

 nizing one for Europe, one for Asia, and 

 one for North America. Mr. H. C. 

 Brimley contributes his records of 'Thirty- 

 two years of Bird Migratio/n at Raleigh, 

 North Carolina' — 165 species with much 

 information and exact dates. 



One may browse with interest among the 

 several departments that fill the closing 

 pages of a remarkably varied issue, and we 

 may well wonder if we really know any- 

 thing about birds when we find questions 

 as to how tree-nesting Ducks get their 

 ducklings down to the water and as to 

 what species regurgitate, and as to other 

 matters equally important, all open to 

 doubt.— J. D. 



The Condor. — In the opening article 

 of the May number, Dixon gives an inter- 

 esting account of 'The Home Life of the 

 Baird Sandpiper {Pisobia bairdi),' a^ species 

 which breeds north of the Arctic Circle 

 and winters in Argentina and Patagonia. 

 This paper, illustrated with figures of the 

 nest and eggs and a map of the breeding- 

 range of the bird, is based on observations 

 made in 1913 and 1914 between the 

 mouth of the Mackenzie River and Point 

 Barrow. The abundance and tameness of 

 wild Ducks in the refuge on Lake Merritt, 

 Cal., in the heart of the city of Oakland, 

 is brought out by W. W. Richards in a 

 brief note accompanied by four striking 

 photographs showing flocks of Canvas- 

 backs, Baldpates, Sprig, and Coots in the 

 immediate vicinity of city residences. 



Kennedy discusses 'Some Factors In- 

 volved in the Nesting Habit of Birds,' and 

 Oberholser reviews 'The Status of Aphelo- 



coma cyanotis and its Allies', recognizing 

 eleven forms of Jays in the californica 

 group, all of which, except A. cyanotis and 

 A. insularis, are subspecies of A. cali- 

 fornica. Mrs. Bailey concludes her paper 

 on 'Birds of the Humid Coast' with an 

 account of the species in the bracken and 

 notes on the Band-tails. A review of 

 ornithological work in progress by various 

 bird students is given by the editor, 

 and the number closes with the annual 

 'Directory of the Cooper Ornithological 

 Club.' The total membership of the club 

 is now 601, including 7 honorary members. 



'The Condor' for July contains five 

 general articles, the first two of which are 

 devoted to habits of birds, one on 'The 

 Ospreys of the Yellowstone,' by M. P. 

 Skinner, and the other on 'The Magpie 

 in Southeastern Washington' by Lee R. 

 Dice. J. H. Bowles describes 'The Winter 

 Migration of 1916-17 in the Northwest' 

 which was marked by unusual numbers 

 of Great Horned Owls, Snowy Owls, 

 Goshawks and Bohemian Waxwings. 



The last two papers comprise local lists. 

 Under the title 'Observations on Some 

 Fresno County Birds,' Swarth contributes 

 notes on sixteen species supplementary to 

 Tyler's papers on the same region. This 

 article is followed by an extended account 

 of 'Some Birds of Central Oregon' by 

 Alex Walker, containing notes on 139 

 species, the result of observations made 

 in 1913, 1914, and 1915. Among the 

 brief notes are records of nine Fork-tailed 

 Petrels (Oceanodroma furcata) obtained 

 at Sunset Beach, Orange County, in 

 May and June 1916, and three Baird's 

 Sandpipers collected at Del Rey, Los 

 Angeles County, Cal., August 17, 1916. — 

 T. S. P. 



Book News 



'The Winnetaska Bird Charts' or 

 rather bird-cards are designed to enable 

 the field student readily to record all that 

 he may observe about an unknown bird. 



There are cards for water- as well as 

 land-birds. They may be obtained from 

 the publisher, Dr. John B. May, Cohasset, 

 Mass. 



