July, 1910 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
135 
owners into a single “Messenger-Dille Collec- 
tion.” This combined cabinet contains choicely 
selected sets of 682 species and subspecies of 
North American birds. It is thus one of the 
largest collections in the United States, and 
not only this, but the component sets have 
been selected with extreme care to secure per- 
fectly prepared and typical representations of 
each species. 
Mr. John K. Thayer, owner of the Thayer 
Museum at Lancaster, Massachusetts, lias sent 
an expedition to Wrangell Island, which lies 
in the Arctic Ocean northwest of Alaska. The 
party will winter there, and thus be on the 
ground at the opening of the springof 1911. The 
special object of this quest is the discovery of the 
eggs of the rare Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Mr. 
Thayer will also have a man in the delta of 
the Mackenzie River at the break of next 
spring, on the look-out for the breeding 
places of certain water birds. 
Mr. C. W. Beebe, of the New York Zoological 
Park, is now in the far East studying fes- 
ants for a projected monograf of that group. 
He writes us from the Himalayas under date of 
May 27 that his party had been camping for a 
month above tree level as close to Mt. Everest 
as possible, making studies of Ithagenes and 
Lophophorus. It is found that the correlation 
of dry, damp and humid climates with pale, 
dark and irridescent plumages is very promi- 
nent among the fesants, as with many 
other birds. Mr. and Mrs. Beebe will return 
home late the coming autum by the way of 
California. 
We have learned that the MS of Part V of 
Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle Amer- 
ica is approaching completion. Mr. Ridg- 
way has finisht with the hummingbirds, and is 
now at work on the trogons. 
The American Bird Banding Association has 
been organized in New York City, with Dr. 
Leon J. Cole as President. The object of this 
society is ‘‘the banding of wild birds and the 
recording of accurate data on their move- 
ments.” The metal band attach! to a bird’s 
leg, bears a serial number and the inscription 
“Notify the Auk, New York.” Record is 
kept of the number of each band used, and 
should the bird ever fall into anyone’s hands, 
it is expected that the fact be reported together 
with the locality of capture. It is believed 
that important data bearing on the study of 
bird migration will thus be obtained. It is 
highly desirable that this work be carried on 
at many widely separated points. Persons in- 
terested and desiring further information or 
wishing to join the Association, should ad- 
dress the Secretary, Mr. C. J. Pen nock, Ken- 
nett Square, Pa. 
Mr. Malcolm P. Anderson writes us from 
Han-chung-fu, Shensi, China, under date of 
February 13, 1910, that his party had crost the 
Pe-ling, or backbone of China, twice. “This is 
no great feat, ” he says, “but in crossing the 
mountains we have found several excellent 
collecting grounds and discovered a consider- 
able number of new mammals. We are pioneers 
in the zoological line in the parts we are visit- 
ing. One of the best collecting grounds I 
have seen in China is around a mountain 
called Tai-pei-san, 13,400 feet elevation, in 
western Shensi. We found this mountain half 
by accident, as reports of its whereabouts and 
the way to reach it were very indefinite. Once 
found, we catnpl at its base and made many 
trips up its slopes. Hunting was difficult in 
places, owing to the extremely slippery sides 
of the mountain. After arming our straw 
sandals with huge spikes to aid us in clinging 
to the snow we finally managed to secure three 
fine specimens of the ‘goat-ox’. Besides this 
strange beast we got specimens of deer, wild 
boar, the ‘goat-antelope’, and a ripping collec- 
tion of the smaller things.” It will be remem- 
bered that Mr. Anderson, with two English 
assistants, was sent out by the British Museum 
a year or more ago, for the purpose of securing 
mammals in the interior of China. This is 
known as the “Bedford Expedition.” Mr. 
Anderson expects to return to his home in Cal- 
ifornia the coming winter. 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
The Dissemination of Junipers by Birds. 
By Frank J. Phillips. Reprint from Fores- 
try Quarterly, vol. VII, no. 1, pp. 1-16; April, 
1910. 
Definite information on so-called matters of 
common knowledge is often much needed, but 
often also vainly sought. In this paper Phil- 
ips fills a long-felt want with his excellent 
demonstration of the importance of birds in the 
distribution of seeds, a topic burdened with 
much general but very little specific knowledge. 
He selects junipers as favorable to the study of 
avian dissemination, since the fruit is rather 
conspicuous and hangs on the tree a long time. 
Analysis shows juniper berries to have a high 
nutritive value, and observation and records 
from various sources prove that large quanti- 
ties of them are eaten by birds. Mammals are 
of slight importance in spreading the seed. 
In dense natural stands of juniper, birds are 
said to be responsible for from 60 to 90 percent 
of the total distribution, and in various locali- 
ties where junipers are scattered it is shown 
that the entire reproduction is due to birds. 
Those who have seen the fence rows of the 
southeastern states niarkt with lines of red 
cedars and the barren, stony fields of certain 
eastern states dotted with them, will not 
question 100 percent bird dissemination of 
juniper. 
Cedar birds and robins are indicated as the 
most important juniper distributors. A few 
names may be added to the list Phillips gives, 
of birds the Biological Survey has found to 
eat juniper berries. They are: for Juniperus , 
