344 



Bird - Lore 



Alaska receives some attention at tlie 

 hands of C. A. Gianini under title 'Some 

 Alaska Peninsula Bird Notes' and of G. D. 

 Hanna under title 'The Summer Birds of 

 the St. Matthew Island Bird Reservation.' 



The status of Larus thayeri, Thayer's 

 Gull,' is discussed by J. Dwight, and a 

 plate of wing-tips is shown. 



'Notes on Long Island (N. Y.) Birds,' 

 by J. T. Nichols, R. C. Murphy and L. 

 Griscom, is of considerable local interest, 

 and on similar lines may be cited 'Remarks 

 on Colorado Birds' by W. P. Lowe; 

 'Further Notes on Alabama Birds' by 

 L. S. Golsan and E. G. Holt, 'Ontario 

 Bird-Notes' by H. Lloyd, and 'Some 

 Notes on Connecticut Birds' by I. N. 

 Gabrielson, all of these articles contain- 

 ing more items of value than their titles 

 indicate. 'Notes on the Kennicott's 

 Screech Owl {Otus asio kennicoUi) in the 

 Puget Sound Region,' by J. H. Bowles, is 

 a contribution to the life-history of this 

 bird. 



A paper on a new topic, 'The Shedding 

 of the Stomach Lining by Birds, Particu- 

 larly as Exemplified by the Anatidse' is 

 the result of some careful work by W. L. 

 McAtee in a field of research that promises 

 more in the future. That extensive des- 

 quamation should take place in gizzards, 

 the food-grinding organs of birds, is not 

 surprising, but the writer's observations, 

 illustrated with half-tones, present the 

 subject in a new light. 



'Notes on North American Birds, III' 

 and 'Notes on the Genus Piiffinus Bris- 

 son,' by H. C. Oberholser, are purely 

 technical. 



'Personalia in Ornithology — Report of 

 the Committee on Biography and Bibliog- 

 raphy,' by T. S. Palmer, outlines work 

 that may be accomplished through cooper- 

 ation along these lines. 



'The Niche Relationships of the Cali- 

 fornia Thrasher' is discussed by J. Grin- 

 nell in language that at times may be 

 understood only by the elect, but we read 

 that "These various circumstances, which 

 emphazise dependence upon cover and 

 adaptation in physical structure and tem- 

 perament thereto, go to demonstrate the 



nature of the ultimate associational niche, 

 occupied by the California Thrasher." 



In binding the numbers of this volume, 

 we must not forget to place the 'List of 

 Members,' now located in the April issue, 

 where it belongs. — J. D. 



The Condor. — The contents of 'The 

 Condor' for September, 191 7, include five 

 general articles, one each on the birds of 

 Colorado, Southern California, and Texas, 

 one historical, and one containing a 

 description of a new subspecies. Brad- 

 bury's 'Notes on the Nesting Habits of 

 the Clarke Nutcracker in Colorado' 

 are based on observations made by H. H. 

 Sheldon in Saguache County in March 

 and x\pril, 1916, and are illustrated by 

 four half-tones. 'Red Letter Days in 

 Southern California,' by Mrs. Bailey, is an 

 account of the birds, mainly Ibises, 

 Herons, Avocets, Stilts, Yellow-legs, 

 Gadwalls and Cinnamon Teal at Lake 

 Elsinore and San Jacinto Lake in August, 

 1907. 'Some Birds of the Davis Moun- 

 tains, Texas',' by A. P. Smith, contains 

 notes on 45 of the hundred or more species 

 observed during a six weeks' trip in Sep- 

 tember and October, 1916. Many of these 

 birds are species of wide range in the 

 Southwest, and some are more or less 

 common in certain parts of California. 



A brief account of 'Botta's Visit to Cali- 

 fornia' in 1827-28 is given by Palmer, 

 with the dates at which the various places 

 were visited and the localities where the 

 types of the Roadrunner and Anna's 

 Hummingbird were probably collected. 

 Under the name Passerella iliaca monoen- 

 sis Grinnell and Storer have described 'A 

 New Race of Fox Sparrow, from the 

 Vicinity of Mono Lake, California.' This 

 new Fox Sparrow "adds another race to 

 the assemblage of pale-colored forms breed- 

 ing in the western United States." 



Among the short notes is an account by 

 Tyler of the discovery on May 25, 1917, of 

 the nest of Wilson's Phalarope, 12 miles 

 southwest of Fresno. This note is espe- 

 cially interesting as it is the southernmost 

 breeding record of this bird in California. 

 — T. S. P. 



