The Condor.—The opening number of Volume XVIII of ‘The Condor,’ for January, 1916, is an unusually interesting one. Under the title ‘Philadelphia to the Coast in Early Days,’ Dr. Witmer Stone, in a paper read at the meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union in San Francisco, last May, outlines the development of western ornithology prior to 1850. Anyone interested in the history of early work in the West will find here a clear, compact, and convenient résumé of the contributors to ornithology made by the voyages and expeditions of Captain Cook, La Pérouse, Vancouver, Lewis and Clarke, Major Long, Captain Wyeth and Captain Beechey, and special reference to the birds collected by Peale, Say, Townsend, Nuttall, Bell and Heermann.
Mrs. Bailey continues her description of ‘The Characteristic Birds of the Dakota Prairies’ with a charming account of the water-birds found along the sloughs and marshes.
Jewett contributes a brief paper on ‘New and Interesting Bird Records,’ concerning thirteen species found in eastern Oregon during the spring and summer of 1915.
One of the first fruits of the recent publication of Grinnell’s ‘Distributional List of the Birds of California,’ appears in Dawson’s seven-page ‘Personal Supplement,’ which contains notes and critical comments on sixty-three species. If other observers would publish such notes as they have with equal detail, it would no doubt result in a considerable addition to the wealth of information on the distribution of California birds which Dr. Grinnell has already so successfully brought together.
The common names applied to several birds come in for criticism in Notes from Field and Study. Henderson defends the term ‘House Finch,’ and condemns the two synonyms by which the bird is often known. The term ‘Linnet’ he considers not distinctive and ‘California Linnet’ as indefensible. Dawson proposes Auburn Canyon Wren as a preferable name for the Dotted Canyon Wren and Coues’ Petrel instead of Ashy Petrel for the bird which ‘simply isn’t ashy.’—T. S. P.
The Auk.—Readers of the January issue will find therein a good deal about bird song as it is viewed from different angles by several contributors. Mr. H. Oldys discusses the ‘Rhythmical Singing of Veeries’ from a musician’s standpoint, and Mr. A. A. Saunders, in a letter at page 103, upholds the scientist’s belief in the use of a graphic method while, casually, in no less than three other articles, the writers make use of conventional human syllables in an effort to express bird-notes. After all, a person must hear a bird-song to know anything about it, and the crudest symbols, musical notes or words that he may employ to awaken his memory of the song mean more to him than any system that has yet been invented. It is his notation alone that will arouse his memory, for the science of musical sounds cannot go far in explaining what his ear has never heard. Mr. H. J. Fry offers ‘A Study of the Seasonal Decline of Bird Song,’ painstaking so far as it goes, but limited to a single season.
Mr. F. C. Lincoln records ‘The Discovery of the Nest and Eggs of Leucosticte australis,’ the Brown-capped Rosy Finch, in the Colorado mountains and shows us a half-tone of the site and one of the nest and eggs, the latter pure white. Messrs. B. S. Bowdish and P. B. Philipp record the finding of several nests of ‘The Tennessee Warbler in New Brunswick,’ and also show us half-tones of the rare nest and eggs.
A pleasing study of the courtship of several species of ducks is presented by Dr. C. W. Townsend, who uses binoculars to good advantage, and Mr. J. C. Phillips raises ‘Two Problems in the Migration of Water Fowl,’ one, regarding the occurrence of certain North American Ducks in the Marshall Islands, the other dealing with the behavior of Canada Geese when migrating.
Mr. W. A. Bryan declares that there is ‘An Undescribed Species of Drepanididæ on Nihoa, Hawaiian Group,’ but wisely refrains from preliminarily tagging it with a name (as has sometimes been done in similar cases) because no specimens have been obtained. Messrs. J. E. Thayer and O. Bangs list ‘A Collection of Birds from Saghalin Island,’ Mr. F. H. Allen describes ‘A Nesting of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak,’ and Mr. H. Mousley contributes the first part of ‘Five Years’ Personal Notes and Observations on the Birds of Hatley, Stanstead Co., Quebec, 1911-1915.’ There is much of interest in Mr. Mousley’s well annotated list which is to be continued.—J. D.