Page:Bird-lore Vol 06.djvu/97

 70 Bird - Lore

from the Colorado River and San Diego to Mt. Shasta; from the Farallones to Tahoe, at which she has pursued her studies of birds chieﬂy during the nesting season.

The most important result attending her observations on the life of the nest is expressed in the statement "that the young oi an macrochires. woodpetkers. porching birds, Cuckoos, kingﬁshers. most birds' of prey, and many sea~birds arr/ed by regur- gitation [ram [be time if liairlring/Itraug/z d [wriatl avnrying in e.\'/En/ [ram Him days In four aunts. arranling It: the sperm.“ The author add. "Out of one hundred and eighty cases recorded by the author, in every instance where the young were hatched in a naked or semi-naked condi» tion they were fed in this ruanner for at least three days."

Few American ornithologists, we imagine,

are familiar with the feeding habits while in the nest of one hundred aml species of birds, and Mrs, \Vheelock's evidently wide experience commands for her observations the respectful consideratéon of those who have not been privileged to have her time and opportunities for ﬁeld work. ‘

Her biographies abound with interesting and novel descriptions of the habits of birds. The individual is sometimes made to stand for the species, and it remains for students of Caliiornian bird»life to ascertain whether many of the observations presented are nor» mal or exceptional. The book should there- fore prove a potent incentive to California ﬁeld workers. and assuredly noone who pm- poses to study the habits of birds in the Westcan afford to be without it.~F. M. C.

The Ornithological Magazines

The Ark—The January number, while bulky. is ﬁlled with good reading and is well illustrated. The report of the A. O. U. bird protection committee by William Dutcher occupies over one-half of the 208 pages. and covers in detail the work of legislatures, ttartIt-n and Audubon So- Most gratil ng results have been etlected with slender means. although the details of this very long report almost

cieties.

eighty I

smother the facts which might have been made more readily available by judicious summarizing and tabulation.

W. K. Fisher has secured most interesting pictures of the Albatrosses of Laysan Island. where the clumsy birds bow and dance and even apparently execute cakewalks. His avi—biography of this immense nation of strangely tame birds reads like the fairy tale of an unknown land. A. C. Bent writes on the ‘ Nesting Habits of the Hero- diones of Florida.’ illustrating with photo» graphs the nests and young of the Roseate Spoonbill and White Ibis, while a good portrait and sketch of the life of the late Thomas MCIlwraithsls furnished by A. K. Fisher. A couple of local lists deserve at— tention; one by E. S. Currier on the ‘ Summer Birds of the Leech Lake Region, Minnesota,‘ the other by O. Widmann on ‘Yosemite Valley Birds.’ The latter, al- though an 'opera-glass' list, is accurate and sets a standard for the possibilities of this sort of observation.

There is an extremely readable article by Spencer Trotter on ‘Some Nova Scotia Birds,‘ and one by H. H. Kopman on bird migration near New Orleans. The arrival of fall migrants in numbers early in August beats out the testimony of other observers. but whether these birds are all adults, as has proved to be the case elseo where, is a matter for future investigation. Other titles [or the reader not already sur< feited. are ‘The Correct Name of the Pa- ciﬁc Dunlin.‘ by S. A. Buturlin; ‘An Abnormal Bill of Melanerpnpurtariumi:,' by B. 5. Bowdish, and ‘ The Exaltation of the Subspecies,‘ by J. Dwight. Jr. Those who have their ‘Auks‘ bound without covers should he warned that the back cover contains ‘Publications Received,’ which has heretofore been paged as a part of ‘Recent Literature.‘ This department. by the way, opens with a timely and perti- nent review of some of the stul’i that the rage for nature ﬁction has called forth.— J. D.. )t.

THE CONDOR. —The sixth volume of 'The Condor' opens without special an- nouncement beyond the statement that the