May, 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
81 
Mr. Fowler Nov. 5, 1S92. It is said to be a tolerably common winter resident. Passerella iliaca 
schisiacca. A specimen has been examined which was taken by Mr. JI. Kimball Nov. 20, 1894, 
in the Huachuca mountains. Prague snhis hesperia. Purple martins were seen about the Post 
May 4 and again May 15, 1892. Dendroica virens. An adult male was examined which was se- 
cured by ISIr. R. IX Lusk in Ramsay canyon May 9, 1895. It may be stated that the record of the 
house sparrow ^Passer douiesticiis ) \r\ Bulletin No. i is based on an erroneous identification 
and should refer to the house finch {Carpodacus mcxicanus frontalis). 
Ttirdus gnttatus audubotn Pegulus calendula breed in the Chiricahua mountains where 
nests were found in 1894, and it is therefore probable that they will be found in some of the more 
inaccessible parts of the Huachucas in summer. This general area including the Huachuca 
mountains and the more extensive Chiricahua range to the eastward affords one of the most in- 
viting fields in the United States for carrying on ornithological studies. The presence of many 
IMe.xican species which find congenial homes in the many numerous canyons among the heavier 
timber of the upper parts, furnish a strong incentive for continued search after other rareties. — 
A. K. Fi.sher. 
Birds of C.\i.ii<orxi.\, An Introduction to More than Three Hundred Common Birds of 
the State and Adjacent Islands with a Supplementary List of Rare Migrants, Accidental Visitants, 
and Hypothetical Subspecies. By Irene Grosvenor Wheelock. With ten full page platesand 
seventy-eight drawings in the text by- Bruce Horsfall. Chicago. A. C. McClurg & Co., 1904 (Feb- 
ruary) pp. i-xxviii, 1-578. 
In this volume of 600 pages the publishers have taken much care to provide a book of pleas- 
ing appearance. The flexible green covers and excellent quality of paper contribute to an agree- 
able ease in handling. The numerous illustrations are mostly quite good for their kind. But we 
regret that we cannot recommend so highly the accompanying text. The many misstatements 
and slighter inaccuracies seem to indicate a limited knowledge of our literature, as well as an 
inadequate personal acquaintance with many of the common species. To be frank, there are so 
manv obvious slips, that we cannot help doubting the general trustworthiness of the book 
throughout. The rapid increase in our knowledge of birds and their habits requires the exercise 
of judicious discrimination on the part of anyone who feels called upon to compile life-histories, 
together with long and intimate acquaintance with the birds themselves. Perhaps an occasional 
resort to the gun would have resulted in a less sweeping generalization in regard to “regurgita- 
tion” than is hurled at the reader in the preface! We can agree that the “Birds of California” is 
much of it written in an interesting style, and is sure to be read with interest by the popular 
contingent. Of course an error now and then is not likely to be detected by- the susceptible 
amateur, so that the book may be appreciated just the same. Yet it does not appear to us up to 
the standard of exactness demanded in the present stage of California ornithology. In view of 
the above remarks, detailed criticism seems hardly worth while. — ^J. Grinneei,. 
A REVI.S10X OF THE North Americ.-^n Mainl.\nd Species of Myi.archus. By E. W. 
Nee.SON. From Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, XVH, March 10, 1904, pp. 21-50. 
Mr. Nelson has given the North American mainland species of Myiarchus a thorough over- 
hauling in the present paper which covers all the species and subspecies of the genus known to 
occur in the mainland of North America north of the Isthmus of Panama. In addition, the birds 
of Cozumel Island near the coast of Yucatan, and the Tres IMarias Islands off the coast of Tepic, 
western Mexico, have been included. 
“ The genus Myiarchus appears to reach its greatest development in the .American tropics, 
including the West Indies, with a limited number of forms ranging well up into temperate North 
America. These most northerly representatives of the genus are cineracens, which reaches the 
northern border of the Upper Sonoran zone on the west coast in Oregon, and crinitiis which 
crosses the Transition zone of eastern America to southern Canada and New Brunswick. J/. 
larvrencei xaA its subspecies is the most widely- distributed of the North American species, with a 
breeding range extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Southern Arizona and the Tres Marias 
Islands. The species of most limited distribution is probably I\I . yucatanensis . found only on the 
peninsula of Yucatan and on Cozumel Island.” 
The introduction also touches upon questions of nomenclature, the moult, and calls attention 
to the fact that the dusky pattern on the tail feathers of rufous-tailed species has a considerable 
range of variation in extent. Myiarchus nuttingi from Arizona thus turns out to be the female 
o{ cinerascens. “By the examination of several hundred specimens of the various species it has 
been demonstrated that the dusky- pattern on the inner webs of the outer tail feathers (and to a 
similar degree on the inner tail feathers) of cinerascens, niexicanus, crinitus, and nuttingi with 
