234 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
qiiisition ; that is, animal “specimens” are not 
included. This tendency is to be looked upon 
with favor, and should be encouraged in every 
practicable way. 
Books, as records of facts, are doubtless 
far more lasting than “specimens.” The 
latter rapidly deteriorate with time and at 
best are only partial records, even though 
originally essential for the accuracy of much 
of the printed record. 
Incidentally a distinct service is rendered 
the cause of science by private book collectors, 
in that rare volumes are gathered from ob- 
scure and unappreciative sources, and usually 
renovated b}’ re-binding as well as being 
housed under the safest of conditions. The 
lives of these volumes thus become insured 
for much longer time than would likely 
otherwise be the case. Sooner or later, toe, 
private collections find their w'ay into public 
repositories where the field of their useful- 
ness widens. 
Another factor worth considering is that 
collectors of books on ornithology nowadays 
have the satisfaction of knowing that wdiat 
money they put into their hobby, if discrimi- 
natingly spent, has been well invested ; the 
market value of even some quite recent pub- 
lications has doubled or even trebled within 
a very few years. 
Mr. Thayer’s catalog is an incentive to in 
terest on the part of others along this line, 
and we welcome it. The reviewer, for in- 
stance, has taken great pleasure in running 
over the titles in comparison with the con- 
tents of his own modest collection. — J. Grin- 
NELL. 
The Auk. — The July number of The Auk 
sustains the usually high character of that 
magazine as a record of ornithological dis- 
covery and scholarship. The latter element 
predominates in Stone’s review' of William 
Bartram’s bird migration records. The writ- 
er comes to the conclusion, based on an ex- 
haustive study of Bartram’s journals, that in 
the case of 26 species of the commoner birds 
of Philadelphia no appreciable change in the 
time of their arrival has taken place in the 
past century. This conclusion, necessitated 
no doubt by the data at hand, is a little sur- 
prising, not to say disappointing, for we had 
supposed that the unquestioned “northward 
trend of species” w'ould have shown itself in 
noticeably earlier spring arrival as it has in 
extended breeding ranges. 
Forbes’ review of Brew'ster’s observations on 
the flight of gulls (recorded in The Auk, for 
January, 1912) is little more than a dogmatic 
reassertion of the mathematical impasse which 
has always ended the discussion of this sub- 
ject. As the author himself admits, his gen- 
eral denial of the possibility of the advan- 
tageous ‘resolution of forces’ by a bird glid- 
ing against a horizontal wind does not account 
for all the factors in Mr. Brewster’s record. It 
does not account, namely, for the behavior of 
birds so far removed from the ship that as- 
cending currents caused by the passing ship 
could not have been a factor. This difficult 
subject is not yet susceptible of explanation, 
but we do need further and exhaustive rec- 
ords of fact. 
Careful, scholarly work appears in Camer- 
on’s continuation of “Notes on Swainson’s 
Haw'k in Montana” and in Tyler’s account of 
“A Successful Pair of Robins”. By the way, 
w'hat an inordinate amount of attention is 
being paid these days to excrementation and 
the parental disposal of faecal sacs ! The maga- 
zines are full of it. It is all very necessary, 
we suppose, hut one cannot help hoping that 
the values of this particular phase of paedol- 
atry may be settled presently so that we can 
pass to pleasanter topics. 
Miss Sherman’s painstaking study of “The 
Nest Life of the Sparrow Hawk” again caps 
the climax of scliolarly reseai'ch. We have 
in Miss Sherman a shining example of how 
purposeful leisure may he profitably employed 
in the further consideration of some of the 
most familiar ornithological subjects. We 
hope to see one day from her pen a collected 
series of these stimulating Ifird studies. 
Scholarsliip again is th.e note of Swarth’s 
review of “The Status of Lloyd’s Bush-tit 
as a Bird of Arizona,” and his studies seem 
to establish the fact that Psaltriparus me- 
lanotis lloydi is not a bird of Arizona, and 
that the bird once described as P. sautantac 
was a juvenal phase of P. plumhcns. 
Three faunal lists and a brief anatomical 
article conspire with “General Notes” and ex- 
tended book reviews to make this a most 
creditable number, w'hile Abbott H. Thayer’s 
“periodical warning” that both he and the 
theory are alive and cheerfully defiant gives 
that touch of piquancy which w'e relish in 
the staidest of journals. — W. L. Daw'SON. 
Bird-Lore has come to be a magazine of 
wdiich its sponsors may w'ell be proud, and its 
bi-monthly visits, indispensable now as al- 
ways to conservationists, are an honest joy 
to all bird students whether veteran or 
amateur. Florence Merriam Bailey con- 
tributes the leading article to the September- 
October ( 1913) number and it is as chock 
full of interest as it is of information con- 
cerning the Long-eared Owl. In our opinion 
Mrs. Bailey is one of the most gifted and re- 
freshing interpreters of bird-life now before 
the public. She has in addition to keen and 
disciplined powers of observation a vivacious 
style and that sprightly quality of imagina- 
tion which, makes it really worth while foi us 
to view life through her eyes. This owl 
