3i6 



Bird - Lore 



history during the three years following its 

 organization. At that time the member- 

 ship of all classes was 152 (raised to 175 in 

 December) and it is evident that already 

 the Sociedad Ornitol6gica del Plata has 

 exerted a marked and most beneficial 

 influence on the promotion of bird-study 

 in the La Plata region. It must be quite 

 clear to anyone reading this abstract 

 of the contents of the latest issue of its 

 official organ that it is not lacking in 

 either observers or observations of the 

 first order.— F. M. C. 



The Auk. — The July issue contains 

 several contributions to interesting phases 

 of the life-histories of North American 

 birds. In 'Some Notes on the Drumming 

 of the Ruffed Grouse,' H. E. Tuttle pre- 

 sents detailed close-range studies of wild 

 Ruffed Grouse drumming, illustrated with 

 an excellent full-page photograph of a 

 bird in action, and accompanied by dis- 

 cussion of possible interpretations of his 

 data and that of others on this interesting 

 subject. 'The Singing Tree, etc.,' by H. 

 Mousley, correlates favorite singing sta- 

 tions of male birds, or points where they 

 remain on guard, with the location of the 

 nest. A tabular list is presented, worked 

 out for forty-two nests representing twenty- 

 five species, of which twelve are Warblers 

 and the remainder scattered among un- 

 related groups, including the Spotted Sand- 

 piper and perching birds from Flycatcher 

 to Bluebird. The average distance from 

 the male's station for all nests listed is 

 17 yards, but there is evidently variation 

 by species, four nests of the Maryland 

 Yellow-throat varying from 4 to 11 yards; 

 two of the Black-throated Blue Warbler 

 from 50 to 100 yards; four of Flycatchers 

 from 5 to 8 yards, and three of the Prairie 

 Horned Lark from 21 to 34 yards. In 

 deliberately finding the nest of a Bay- 

 breasted Warbler, by a study of the male 

 bird's singing stations and of the surround- 

 ing territory, nests of a Magnolia andBlack- 

 throated Green Warbler and of an Olive- 

 backed Thrush were located more or less 

 incidentally — luck and 'genius' still seem 

 important factors in locating bird-nests. 



'The Early History of a Duck Hawk,' by 

 Viola F. Richards, contains observations 

 at the nesting-station for this species on 

 Sugar Loaf Mountain, Deerfield, Mass., 

 illustrated by excellent photographs; 

 'Black Duck Nesting in Boston Public 

 Garden,' by Horace W. Wright, is an 

 account of more or less successful nesting 

 in successive years of a pair of wild Black 

 Ducks at a pond in a city park; and a paper 

 by C. A. Robbins deals with 'A Colony of 

 Cape Cod Piping Plover.' After a period 

 of scarcity there is a marked increase in 

 the numbers of Piping Plover on Cape Cod, 

 probably from better protection. Inci- 

 dentally we hear of a similar increase 

 further south along the coast. 



Two local lists are from the southern 

 states, namely 'Some Summer Birds of 

 Liberty County, Georgia,' by W. J. 

 Erichsen, listing perhaps half the breed- 

 ing species with interesting nesting data; 

 and 'A Three Months' List of the Birds 

 of Pinellas County, Florida,' by Clifford 

 H. Pangburn. 'Three Interesting Great 

 Horned Owls from New England,' by 

 Glover M. Allen, calls attention to the 

 occasional occurrence there in winter 

 flights of the Horned Owl, of individuals 

 representing the Labrador-Newfoundland, 

 as also the north-interior, races of this 

 bird. Concentration of wandering Owls 

 from widely separated breeding areas 

 upon a single hunting territory, as here 

 evidenced for New England, is of more 

 than passing interest. 



'Audubon's Bibliography,' by Francis 

 H. Herrick, will be of reference value for 

 those interested in the various editions of 

 Audubon's works. Papers by Oberholser 

 and one by Loomis on the Galapagos 

 Albatross, in which the illustrations are of 

 exceptional excellence deal with technical 

 description and nomenclature, and mat- 

 ters of nomenclature occupy much of the 

 General Notes, where, besides the usual 

 records of various species in localities 

 where their occurrence is noteworthy 

 McAfee presents some interesting results 

 of recent study of the Bobolink, showing 

 that it is shifting its breeding-range north- 

 westward, while maintaining a southward 



