Nov., 1914 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
265 
curred in by the Committee, was that these 
are mere age differences. The authors of 
the present paper think that “there is one 
point that has been overlooked, with regard 
to the occurrence of these birds in El Paso 
County at least, and that is that psaltria 
alone is the breeding form, so far as at 
present known, the dark forms not making 
their appearance until later, arizonae com- 
ing in July, and mexicanus the very last of 
July and first of August. ...” No dark- 
colored birds have been discovered breeding 
in the County. The differences involved 
consist only in the relative degree of ex- 
tension of black on the dorsal surface. 
In the mind of the reviewer it is contrary 
to distributional precedent for three sub- 
species to occur in a single place during the 
summer season in the way these goldfinches 
seem to do. It seems more likely that age 
does have something to do with the ob- 
served differences, and that these are height- 
ened by the effects of wear so that the 
monthly succession described becomes ex- 
plainable. Examination of skins from Cal- 
ifornia, from which state the same three 
forms used to be recorded, tends to support 
this conclusion. [Incidentally, the reviewer 
fails to find good grounds for separating the 
Pacific Coast bird, “hesperophilus” , from 
psaltria!] 
Aiken and Warren devote nearly six 
pages to an account of the House Finch 
(Carpodaeus mexicanus frontalis). Among 
the various features of this bird treated, the 
matters of systematic position and molts 
deserve comment. It is stated that com- 
parison of specimens from El Paso County 
with others from California, Arizona and 
New Mexico, shows the local bird to pos- 
sess various characters of color and dimen- 
sions which seem to warrant separate recog- 
nition. The bird of Colorado east of the 
mountains would retain the name frontalis, 
Say’s description having been based upon a 
bird from the Arkansas Valley, while the 
more western and southern form would be 
called Carpodaeus mexicanus obscurus Mc- 
Call. The known wide variation in House 
Finches of the Pacific Slope suggests cau- 
tion in considering these views, however. 
As to molts, the authors’ experience shows 
that young male House Finches acquire the 
red plumage, practically indistinguishable 
from the adults, at the first fall change. But 
one individual exception to this rule, as far 
as their material has shown, is cited. It 
may here be remarked that although this 
condition of affairs has been clearly stated 
in print before, Chapman, in Bird-Lore (vol. 
XVI, March-April, 1914, page 107), states 
that the plumage changes in the House 
Pinch “appear to be the same as those of 
the Purple Pinch”. This error is perhaps 
natural, in view of the close general simi- 
larity between the Linnets and Purple 
Pinches. But the case teaches that extreme 
caution should be exercised in handling the 
often complicated problem of molts and 
plumages. Considerable irregularity is 
sometimes displayed within the same genus. 
Returning to the paper under review, 
enough has been said to indicate its general 
features and value. The authors are to be 
highly commended on furnishing their lo- 
cality with so useful a compendium of or- 
nithological knowledge. Local interest 
should be largely increased as a result. — J. 
Geinnell. 
MINUTES OF COOPER CliUB MEETINGS 
NOETHERN DIVISION 
August. — The regular monthly meeting of 
the Northern Division of the Cooper Ornith- 
ological Club was held in Room 101, East 
Hall, University of California, Berkeley, 
August 20, 1914, at 8 p. m. President Bry- 
ant was in the chair with the following 
members present: Mesdames Allen and 
Grinnell, Miss Swezy, and Messrs. Bryant, 
Camp, Carriger, Dawson, Evermann, Grin- 
nell, Moran, Storer, Trenor and Wheeler. 
Several visitors were present. 
The program of the evening was first 
presented. Mr. William Leon Dawson spoke 
on “The Shorebirds of 1914” and illustrated 
his remarks with a series of excellent lan- 
tern slides prepared from photographs made 
during the present season at Los Banos, 
Santa Barbara and elsewhere in California. 
The business of the meeting was then 
taken up. The minutes of the Northern Di- 
vision for July were read and approved, fol- 
lowed by the reading of the Southern Divi- 
sion minutes for June and July. The fol- 
lowing were elected to membership: Dr. 
George Bird Grinnell, Miss Minnette Mac- 
Kay, Mr. Enos A. Mills, and Mrs. Alfred 
Worcester. The following were proposed 
for membership: Miss Hazel King, 1898 
Broadway, San Francisco, by Dr. William 
F. Bade; Mrs. Amy M. Bryant, 2533 Hill 
Court, Berkeley, by H. C. Bryant; Mr. Lee 
R. Dice, Prescott, Washington, Miss Amy E. 
Gunn, Mill Valley, Miss Frieda Luedde- 
mann. Box 105, Los Gatos, Miss Mary S. 
Storer, 467 San Pablo Avenue, Fresno, all 
proposed by Tracy I. Storer; Miss Dorothy 
Conger, 2425 Oregon street, Berkeley, by 
Miss Susan B. Culver. The ten names pro- 
