70 



Bird -Lore 



from the Colorado River and San Diego to 

 Mt. Shasta; from the Farallones to Tahoe, 

 at which she has pursued her studies of 

 birds chiefly during the nesting season. 



The most important result attending her 

 observations on the life of the nest is 

 expressed in the statement "that the young 

 of all macrochires, woodpeckers, perching 

 birds, cuckoos, kingfishers, most birds' of 

 prey, and many sea-birds are fed by regur- 

 gitation from the time of hatching through 

 a period varying in extent from three days 

 to four iveeks, according to the species.'" 

 The author adds: "Out of one hundred 

 and eighty cases recorded by the author, 

 in every instance where the young were 

 hatched in a naked or semi-naked condi- 

 tion they were fed in this manner for at least 

 three days." 



Few American ornithologists, we imagine, 

 are familiar with the feeding habits while 

 in the nest of one hundred and eighty 

 species of birds, and Mrs. Wheelock's 

 evidently wide experience commands for 

 her observations the respectful consideration 

 of those who have not been privileged 

 to have her time and opportunities for 

 field work. 



Her biographies abound with interesting 

 and novel descriptions of the habits of birds. 

 The individual is sometimes made to stand 

 for the species, and it remains for students of 

 Californian bird-life to ascertain whether 

 many of the observations presented are nor- 

 mal or exceptional. The book should there- 

 fore prove a potent incentive to California 

 field workers, and assuredlj^nocne who pro- 

 poses to study the habits of birds in the 

 West can afford to be without it. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The January number, while 

 bulky, is filled with good reading and is 

 well illustrated. The report of the A. O. 

 U. bird protection committee by William 

 Dutcher occupies over one-half of the 208 

 pages, and covers in detail the work of 

 legislatures, wardens and Audubon So- 

 cieties. Most gratifying results have been 

 effected with slender means, although the 

 details of this very long report almost 



smother the facts which might have been 

 made more readily available by judicious 

 summarizing and tabulation. 



W. K. Fisher has secured most interesting 

 pictures of the Albatrosses of Laysan Island, 

 where the clumsy birds bow and dance and 

 even apparently execute cakewalks. His 

 avi-biography of this immense nation of 

 strangely tame birds reads like the fairy 

 tale of an unknown land. A. C. Bent 

 writes on the ' Nesting Habits of the Hero- 

 diones of Florida,' illustrating with photo- 

 graphs the nests and young of the Roseate 

 Spoonbill and White Ibis, while a good 

 portrait and sketch of the life of the late 

 Thomas Mcllwraith-is furnished by A. K. 

 Fisher. A couple of local lists deserve at- 

 tention; one by E. S. Currier on the 

 ' Summer Birds of the Leech Lake Region, 

 Minnesota,' the other by O. Widmann on 

 ' Yosemite Valley Birds.' The latter, al- 

 though an 'opera-glass' list, is accurate 

 and sets a standard for the possibilities of 

 this sort of observation. 



There is an extremely readable article by 

 Spencer Trotter on ' Some Nova Scotia 

 Birds,' and one by H. H. Kopman on 

 bird migration near New Orleans. The 

 arrival of fall migrants in numbers early in 

 August bears out the testimony of other 

 observers, but whether these birds are all 

 adults, as has proved to be the case else- 

 where, is a matter for future investigation. 

 Other titles for the reader not already sur- 

 feited, are ' The Correct Name of the Pa- 

 cific Dunlin,' by S. A. Buturlin; 'An 

 Abnormal Bill of Melanerpes portoricensis, ' 

 by B. S. Bowdish, and ' The Exaltation of 

 the Subspecies,' by J. Dwight, Jr. Those 

 who have their 'Auks' bound without 

 covers should be warned that the back cover 

 contains 'Publications Received,' which 

 has heretofore been paged as a part of 

 'Recent Literature.' This department, 

 by the way, opens with a timely and perti- 

 nent review of some of the stuff that the 

 rage for nature fiction has called forth. — 

 J. D., Jr. 



The Condor. — The sixth volume of 

 'The Condor' opens without special an- 

 nouncement bevond the statement that the 



