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Bird - Lore 



great interest to every naturalist, whether or 

 not he accept them in their entirety. The 

 publication of this first volume follows 

 something like nine years' more or less 

 continuous study of Pheasants, the initial 

 seventeen months of which comprised 

 extended exploration of their habitat in 

 Asia and Malaysia, with the purpose of 

 becoming familiar with each of the dif- 

 ferent kinds in life. The author's resultant 

 thorough familiarity with the birds not 

 only gives his statements the stamp of 

 authority but has enabled him to write of 

 Pheasants with unusual ease and clear- 

 ness, whether presenting details of plumage 

 or hypotheses of evolution. 



The Pheasants are not a large group and 

 most of the species possess strikingly 

 beautiful plumage. They rank high as 

 game birds, are readily kept in captivity, 

 and in general have long been well known, 

 though the inaccessibility of their haunts 

 has prevented earlier ornithologists from 

 becoming familiar with many species in 

 nature. They lend themselves to elaborate 

 monographic treatment, in fact, have been 

 monographed before by Daniel Giraud 

 Elliot, 1872. The merit of such a mono- 

 graph is, then, not in difiiculties to be 

 overcome in preparing it, but in its excel- 

 lence. 



The best talent has been secured in 

 preparation of the plates, those in the 

 present volume by G. E. Lodge are 

 remarkable for poise and atmosphere; 

 those by A. Thorburn are particularly life- 

 like, the bird very skilfully placed in its 

 environmental background; and one is by 

 C. R. Knight, master of color — all these 

 artists recognized for the ability and 

 accuracy of their work. Plates by H. 

 Gronvold, of plumage details of the young, 

 one of wattles of cock Tragopans and 

 one of eggs, are excellent. One feels that 

 lavishness in the matter of illustrations 

 and make-up is in keeping with the author's 

 having given unsparingly of his best in 

 preparing the work and making the studies 

 on which it is based. 



In our opinion, this volume is the most 

 enjoyable, important and satisfactory 

 book of birds recently published, and we 



hope that the succeeding volumes will not 

 be long delayed. — -J. T. N. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The opening number of 

 Volume XXI of The Condor, for January, 

 1919, presents an unusually varied contents 

 in six general articles and a number of 

 short notes. Mrs. Bailey's 'Return to 

 the Dakota Lake Region,' continued from 

 the last volume, is devoted largely to an 

 account of the habits of various marsh 

 birds. Dawson's 'Solitaires of Shasta,' 

 illustrated with five figures, is an interest- 

 ing description of six nests of Town- 

 send's Solitaire, each containing from two 

 to four eggs, discovered near the timber- 

 line on Mount Shasta, Calif., in July, 1916. 

 From observations extending over a 

 period of two weeks, the author estimates 

 the number of Solitaires on Mount 

 Shasta as approximately 1,500. Kitchin 

 contributes an illustrated account of the 

 'Nesting of the Short-eared Owl in Western 

 Washington.' The nests observed were 

 located in rather open sites on the edges of 

 sloughs in a tidal marsh near Tacoma. 



The question of whether birds mate 

 for life is discussed in two articles by Law 

 and Carpenter, and several instances are 

 mentioned by the latter author which seem 

 to support the theory in the case of certain 

 species. 



Under the title, 'Parasitism of Nestling 

 Birds by Fly Larvae,' Plath presents the 

 results of careful observations and experi- 

 ments on 63 nests, representing six species 

 of birds. "Of these, 39, or nearly two-thirds, 

 were infested by blood-sucking fly larvae." 

 Birds such as Goldfinches and Linnets, 

 which build compact nests, showed a 

 larger proportion of infection than those 

 like the California Brown Towhee which 

 have nests of looser construction. This 

 important subject merits much more 

 attention in the field. 



Among the brief notes, Grinnell gives 

 a list of twenty-three 'Recent Additions 

 to the California State List of Birds,' which 

 brings the total number of species and sub- 

 species up to 564. — T. S. P. 



