io6 
'I'HE CONDOR 
I Vol. Ill 
PACIFIC COAST CHANGFS IN THE 
CPIECK-LIST. 
The tenth supplement to the A. O. I'. Check- 
hist contains additions of especial interest to 
Coast workers. These were acted upon at the 
recent session of the A. O. C. Committee on 
Nomenclature, and a list of the accepted forms 
occnrring on the Pacific Coast is here given. 
Ardea herodias faunini Cii.-tPM.A.N, North- 
west Coast Heron, Queen Charlotte Ids. and 
coast region of British Columbia; Canachiies 
canadensis osgoodi Bishop, Alaska Spruce 
(jrouse. Upper Yukon region and thence north- 
west to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet; 
Lagopus lencurus altipete 7 is Osgood, South- 
ern White-tailed Ptarmigan, Southern Rocky 
Mts., (Colorado, New Mexico etc.); 
insnlicola Oberholser, Santa Barbara P'ly- 
catcher, Santa Barbara Ids., Cal.; Perisoi'eus 
obsciirus g 7 'iseiis Ridgw., Gray Jay, British 
Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern 
California east of the Coast and Cascade 
Ranges; Ammodrainns I'ostf'aius halophiliis 
(McGrp:gor), Lagoon Sparrow, Salt marshes 
in the vicinity of Abreojos Point, Lower Cali- 
fornia; Pipilo niaculatus atratus Ridgw., 
San Diego Towhee, Southern coast district of 
California, south of San Fernando and Sierra 
San Gabriel, and south to Lower California; 
Pipilo fuscHS cai'olcz McGregor, Northern 
Brown Towhee, Northwestern California; 
Dendroica nigrifrons Brewster, Black- 
fronted Warbler, Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, 
Mexico north to the Huachnca and Chiricahua 
Mts., Arizona; Geothlypis h'ichas arizela 
Oberh. Pacific Coast region, from Southern 
British Columbia to northern Lower California, 
west of the Cascades and Sierra Nevadas; 
Thryomanes bewickii charienturus Oberh., 
Coast region of Southern California north to 
about Pasadena; Santa Catalina Island; 
Thryomanes beivickii caloplionus Oberh., 
Pacific slope, from Oregon to southern Van- 
couver Island and valley of F'raser River, 
British Columbia; Anorthura hiemalis 
helleri Osgood, Kadiak Winter Wren, Kadiak 
Island Alaska; Anorthura meligera Oberh., 
Aleutian Wren, The westermost islands of the 
Aleutian group, Alaska: Certhia faniiliaris 
zelotes Osgood, Sierra Creeper, Cascade 
Mountains of Oregon and the Sierra Nevada 
of California; Chavicea fasciafa phcea Osgood, 
Coast Wren-Tit, Coast region of Oregon and 
California from i\storia, Oregon to Marin Co. 
California: Regidns calendula grinnelli W. 
Palmer, Sitkan Kinglet, Sitka district, 
.-Vlaska; Hylocichla ustulafa alnice Oberh, 
.\lma’s Thrush , Yukon Basin, south to the 
Rocky Mountains region, and west to Utah 
and eastern Nevada. 
The following changes are also of interest; 
Our Colaptes cafer becomes Colaptes cafer 
collaris, the former being restricted to Mexico; 
Sayornis nigricans seiniatra is a.ssigned to the 
Coast as follows: “Pacific Coast of the United 
.States and Mexico, from Oregon to Colima, 
eastward to Arizona’’; Zonotrichia leucophrys 
intermedia becomes Zonotrichia 1 . gambellii, 
while the former Zonotrichia leucophrys 
gambellii is changed to Zonotrichia 1 . 
nut tain. 
W W P 
COMMUNICATIONS. 
A BOON FOR OOLOGISTS. 
Editor Condor : — 
A saturated solution of cooking soda is quite 
effective for removing embryos. As an illus- 
tration of its work, last night at 6 p. M. I 
found a Black-throated Gray Warbler’s nest 
with four eggs, certainly not less than three- 
fourths incubated, the shell being so soft that 
the drill sank into it. I put in as much soda 
as the eggs would hold and changed it once 
during the evening. This morning they were 
reasonably easily blown before 8 a. m., two 
perfect specimens, the holes being not much 
larger than for fresh eggs ; the other tw'o have 
a small nick in each hole but are perfecth' 
strong. The embryo was shaved oft' with a 
sharp knife as it w’as forced out. It was 
equallj' successful on Northwest Crow 1-5, 
California Jay 1-6 and Oregon Junco %. It is 
probably too late for many to try it this year, 
but possibly you can test it. The principal 
advantage over other chemicals is that it does 
the work quickly. 
Ch.as. W. Bowles. 
Waldo, Oregon, June igoi. 
[We were happily enabled to test Mr. 
Bowles’ process on a badly incubated set of 
Calaveras Warbler, the results being a pleasant 
surprise. By blowing out the softer parts of 
the embryos and filling the, eggs vvith a satu- 
rated solution of soda, all blew readily on the 
following morning. As Mr. Bowdes points 
out, the merit of using soda is in its quick 
results, thus enabling one to blow the egg be- 
fore the shell has softened. — ED:] 
UvSE OF COLLODION TO PREVENT AR- 
SENICAL POISONING 
Editor The Condor; — 
All ornithologists are aware that there is 
more or less danger in the handling of arsenic 
in preparing specimens. If a small particle 
finds lodgment in a cut, a sore is the result. 
Painting the cut and around the finger nails 
with collodion before using arsenic prevents 
all this. It forms a smooth coating, and used 
in that way is harmless, clean and leaves no 
stain. 
Port Collins, Colo. W. L. Burnett. 
