Page:Bird-lore Vol 06.djvu/132

 Book News and Reviews

brief notes on haunts, habits, food, abun- dance and time of arrival, The last two have reference to the species in Massachu- aetts. Notes, nest and breeding range in New England are treated in a few words under separate headings. About one-fourth of the species are represented by small out- line illustrationa,—W. DeW. M.

The Ornithological Magazines

TH! AuK.—A timely criticism of ‘ nature- boolts’ attracts our attention in the April ‘Auk.’ W. M, Wheeler, writing on ‘The Obligations of the Student of Animal Be- havior,’ says. that "all we can really per- ceive of animal behavior is certain move- ments of the creatures in time and space. As soon as we attempt to assign causes to there movemsnts we at once pass into the province’or pure inference," Here is (mod for reﬂection which may not be altogether palatable for some who have wielded the pen of late years in combining science anti ﬁction. H. Oltlys, writing on ' The Rhyth- mical Song of the Wood Pewee,’ considers it as taking "higher technical rank than any other known example oi bird music." His reduction of it to musical notation is, however, like all attempts of this kind. emi- nently unsatisfactory for any one who has ever heard the bird.

A. C. Bent continues his article on the 'Nesting Habits of the Herodiones in Florida,’ showing admirable photographs that evidently represent much expenditure of energy in the taking. On the whole, the Herons protected from the plume— hunters would not seem to he in immediate danger of extermination. Not so, the Masked Bob-white of Arizona, which, according to H. Brown, survives only in Mexico, although not persecuted for feathers, The title ‘Curve-billetl and Palmer's Thrashers,’ by J, H, Clark, is misleading. for the paper deals only with the nests and eggs of these two birds. It is illustrated.

The perennial local list is much in evi- deuce, one by R. la, Snotlgrass, on birds or the state or Washington, one by G. Eifrig. on those or western Maryland, and one by G. F. Breninger. on those of San Clemente

IOI

island, California. The status of the western form of Lincoln's Sparrow is dis» cussed by J. Grinnell; there are valuable reviews—one on that classic of North Ameri~ can ornithology. Cones' ‘Key to North American Birds '—antl the general notes are numerous.—J. D.. JR.

THE Ctmoolt,~Tlte opening article in the March ‘April number oi ‘ The Condor' contains an interesting description of the habits or ‘Two Oregon \Varblers.‘ by w, L. Finley, and is illustrated by reproduc— tions of ﬁve striking photographs by Bob]- rnan, showing the BIack-tltroated Gray Warbler and the Western Yellow Throat feeding their young. A brief account of the ‘ Nesting Habits of the Black-headed Grosbeak' is contributed by Anna Head. and a description of ‘ A Sandhill Crane's Nest' in Gunnison county, Colorado. by E. R. Warren.

Underthe title ' Destruction of Birds by Wires,‘ Emerson describes the havoc wrought among the smaller shore birds by two telephone win-s strung across the marsh neat Haywards, Ca|., at a height just suh‘i- cient to catch the ﬂocks of Sandpipers and Phalaropes passing lrom the feeding- grounds in one pond to another, Forty dead birds were picked up in one day anti thirty the next.

Notes on 49 species of ‘ M inter Birds at Palm Springs, California,‘ are given by Grinnell, who calls attention to this locality as probably one of the lit-st in the state [or observing the migration of land-birds. The status of ‘ The Elf Owl in Calilornia‘ is lirrnly established by Herbert Brown. who describes the ﬁnding of two nests with eggs at Duncan Flats, about 25 miles north oi Yuma, in May, 1903. This interesting species, ﬁrst described from a specimen col» Iected at Fort Mohave. Ariz.. in tsst. its distribution in

seems to be limited ' Arizona and California by the range of the giant cactus. which is found on the west side of the Colorado river at only a few points The ﬁrst part of a paper entitled ‘Nevada Notes,‘ based on observations made along the Humboldt river in the sum— mer of [90], is contributed by W. C_