Page:Condor13(2).djvu/41

 Mar., 1911 ..:...' :.:.'..

'.:: PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED ! :i f'% 'I { ' favorable moment. This will be a personal matter and we'll get to it all in good time. After that you will be a booster. All your friends know that you are interested in birds. May they not also know that you are interested in the snccess of the California bird-book? We are going to sncceed, of course; but success will mean so much more to us if,we can all share it. Thank you. W. LEON DAWSON Santa Barbara, February 20, 1911. PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED MILLER ON FOSSIL BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AND OREGON.--Mr. Loye Holmes Miller is con- tinuing his studies upon prehistoric birds, re- mains of which are becoming available in remark- able quantity through the work of the University of California department of Paleontology irader the direction of Dr. John C. Merriam. Since our last notice of Miller's work (CONDOR XII, January 1910, p. 48) three more papers have ap- peared. In each case the well-chosen title gives a clear idea of the contents of the paper. The first. article deals with the "Wading Birds from the Quarteruary Asphalt Beds of Rancho laBrea" (Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol. V, August 5, .1910, pp. 439-448, figs. 1-8). Con- trary to expectation wading birds are found to be but poorly represented in the Rancho la Brea beds, located near Los Angeles. But five species have so far been found, and of these only seventeen individuals are represented. Fourteen of these individuals are referred to the subfamily Ciconiinae, which is at present foreign to the region. Ciconia maltha, not distantly related to the White Stork of the Old t World, is described as new. The other mem- ber of the subfamily is the Jabiru (Jabiru myc- teria). Of the cranes (Gruidae) both Grus canadensis, and a newly described species re- lated to it, Grus minor, were found; and of the herons (Ardeidae) only Ardea herodias. In the next paper Miller treats of "the Con- dor-like Vultures of Rancho la Brea" (Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol. VI, November 28, 1910, pp. 1-19, figs. 1 aand lb to 5 a and 5 b). The abundance of the remains of these huge scav- enging birds is accounted for by the author on the ground that the Quarternary mammalian fauna in this region was abundant, remains of both herbivorous and carnivorous species of large size being numerous in the same beds. The asphalt furnished a trap for these beasts, and the carcasses of these in turn lured the vultures to their doom. The keen senses of the birds, both of sight and of smell, were doubtless effective at great distances, and thus toll was taken from a large area. The rela- tively large number of vulturine representa- tives might thus be in part explained. Only one of the four species to which the materim is referred exists at the present time; this is the California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus), represented by a series of fOUrteen fossil tarsi. Sarcorhamphus clarki is described as new and most nearly related to the Andean Condor. Quite different from either of the above are Calharlornis gracilis and Pleislogyps rex, both genusand species being newly named in each case. These are of larger size than either of the existing condors; in fact Pleistogyps, be- cause of its great size and the fact that it is rep- resented only by tarsi, while Teratornis was described from skull and pectoral girdle, .arouses the suspicion that it might, indeed, be identified with Teralornis. The author arrives at his decision to the contrary by carefully weighing the various eonsideratious eoucerned with such a problem. The reader is left im- pressed with the conelusiveness of the author's argument. All the way through, the present paper is notable for detailed, osteological study aml cautious but inmginative inferential reas- oning. The third paper contributes "Additions to the Avifauna of the Pleistocene Deposits at Fossil Lake, Oregon" (Univ. Calif. Pnbl. Geol. VI, February 4, 1911, pp. 79-87, figs. 1-3). This deposit had been previously pretty thor- oughly exploited by Shufehlt. In Miller's paper, three forms are recorded, not mentioned by Shufeldt, and one of those, Echmophorus lucasi, is described as new. A mimmarized list of all the species of the avifauna is given. This otherwise excellent paper is marred by numer- ous mis-spelled words, a feature doubiless de- plored by all concerned with the publication of the paper, but due to a fortuitous lapse of the pen or mind to lhich no one appears to be wholly immune.--J. G. NOTES ON THE PASSENGER PIGEON, by W. J. McGEE (Science, if. s., vol. xxxti, no. 835, De- cember 30, 1910, pp. 958-964). It is not at all probable that ornithologists will regard seriously the statement of Mr. McGee that the Passenger Pigeon is still to be found in abnndance in southern Arizona, in the extremely arid desert region between Nogales and Yuma. Had the pigeon sought the seclu- sion of the desert for a respite from incessant persecution, it is at least probable that some one of the numerous collectors that have ex- plored the region would have secured a speci- nen at some time. Such has not been the case, nor did the natnralistsacconipanying the United States Mexican Boundary Survey report their occurrence in that region, though in 1894 they visited the exact spot where Mr. McGee claims to have seen the birds (Tinajas Altas). As he was quite evidently unable to distinguish between the California and Gambel Quails we are probably safe in assuming that he mistook some other species for the Passenger Pigeon. H. S.S. TRACY ON THE "SIGNIFICANCE OF WHITE MARKINGS IN BIRDS OF THE ORDER PASSERI-