Nov., 1913 
EDITORIAL NOTES AND NEWS 
231 
a few days before the bill passed took part 
in putting- the linishing touches on the pro- 
visions of the Lacey Act incorporated in that 
Code. Later he took an active part in secur- 
ing an increase in the appropriation for the 
maintenance of the buffalo herd in the Yel- 
lowstone Park. 
In recognition of his interest in the protec- 
tion of migratory birds he was recently ap- 
pointed a member of the Advisory Board and 
was to have been present with other mem- 
bers of the committee at the hearing in Oma- 
ha on August 6, but was prevented by ab- 
sence in California. Always interested in any 
measure for the conservation of wild life and 
ready to assist to the utmost of his ability, 
Major Lacey was a staunch friend of the De- 
partment, an earnest advocate of wild life 
conservation, and a singularly effective worker 
in this field. It is unfortunate that he could 
not have lived a few days longer to have 
learned the outcome of the measures for the 
protection of migratory birds and the plum- 
age clause in the Tariff Bill, in which he was 
much interested. — ^T. S. Pai.mER, Assistant 
Chief, Biological Survey. 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
A Revision of the Genus Chaemepei.ia. 
By VV. E. Ceyde Todd. (Annals of the Car- 
negie Museum, viii, Mav 8, 1913, pp. 507- 
603). 
This is a careful and thorough revision of 
a difficult group of birds, and one leaving lit- 
tle to be desired in manner of treatment. The 
author had at his disposal "no less than nine- 
teen hundred and twenty specimens of this 
genus, representing all of the known forms, 
and including a number of types”, a quantity 
of material sufficing for a satisfactory solu- 
tion of most of the problems involved. 
Five species are recognized in the genus, 
passcriua, ininuta, biickleyi, talpacoii, and 
nidpennis. A sixth .species, Cohtmha crua- 
iaiia Ih'evost and Knip, generallj placed in 
the genus Chaemepelia, is here made the type 
of a new genus, Bupelia. Chaemepelia and 
Eiipelia, with five other genera, are placed in 
the subfamily Claraviinae, corresponding to 
Salvadori’s Peristerinae. C. passcrina is di- 
vided into sixteen subspecies, ininuta into 
two, ruhpennis into two, while buckleyi and 
talpacoii each remains undivided. Three new 
South American subspecies of passcrina are 
designated, parvida from central Colombia, 
nana from western Colombia, and quitensis 
from Ecuador; and C. ininuta elaeodes is de- 
scribed from Costa Rica. 
In the treatment accorded the North Am- 
erican forms of C. passcrina certain changes 
are noted from the arrangement in the A. O. 
U. Check-List. The liird of the southeastern 
United States once more receives the name of 
passcrina; C. p. bennudiana, of Bermuda, is 
relegated to the synonymy of C. p. bahamen- 
sis, which is itself considered as but poorly- 
differentiated from the Cuban bird. 
Tlie critical, detailed discussions of the va- 
rious forms contain much that is interesting 
and suggestive, and will undoubtedly prove 
most helpful to future workers in the group. 
The exceedingly thorough bibliographical re- 
search carried out by the author has borne 
its fruits in the satisfactory solution of vari- 
ous nonienclatural puzzles of long standing. 
The paper closes with a table of the aver- 
age measurements of the various forms, and 
a list of the skins examined, with the source 
of each specimen. — LI. S. Swarth. 
A Study oe the Nesting Behavior of the 
\ EELow Warbeer {Dendroica aestiva aestiva). 
By Harry C. Biggeestone. (Wilson Bulletin, 
XXV, June, 1913, pp. 49-67, 5 tables). 
In the IVilson Bulletin for June, 1913, is 
to be found a most notable article on the nest- 
ing behavior of the Eastern Yellow Warbler. 
The jiaper records observations made by 
Harry C. Bigglestone from a blind near the 
Alacbride Lakeside Laboratory on Lake Oko- 
liogi, Iowa, during the summer of 1912. The 
nest was discovered before the set of eggs 
was complete and after hatching was watched 
continuously during hours of daylight until the 
young iiad flown. During the eight days in- 
volved the author received relief from other 
students in the laboratory at meal times and 
other periods of the day, thus lightening the 
tediousness of the task. 
The patience displayed was certainly re- 
warded by the results obtained, for the re- 
viewer can think of no paper which has fur- 
nished so much valuable information as to 
the details of the nesting behavior of any 
single bird. Even such minute details as the 
way in which the hatching bird frees itself 
from the shell and the time taken for this 
operation are recorded. 
By marking the young warblers with col 
ored strings tied about the leg, the author 
was able to keep track of the amount of food 
each was fed. Tables show the number of 
visits made by the parents, the distribution 
of food by days, and the distriliution of food 
to the different nestlings. A total of 2373 
visits with food were made, even though feed- 
ing was left entirely to the female during the 
last few days. The food was found to be 
made up entirely of insects, "green worms” 
ijeing the largest item. 
Under the heading of sanitation are re- 
corded many interesting facts regarding the 
removal of excreta. For the first few days 
the parent birds usually ate the excreta, but 
later it was carried away. The egg-shells 
were all eaten. A table gives the total num- 
ber of excreta sacs, together with their dis- 
posal. 
