of bird life fouiui in passing from the hot plains of southern California to the alpine conditions of the High Sierra at an altitude of 1 1, GOO feet. The nesting habits of the Desert Sparrow Hawk are described by Rising, and those of the Western Vellow- throat by Leland. An annotated list of i68 species of birds found at Paicines, C'alifor- nia, is given by J. and J. W. Mailliard, and short notes on the occurrence and hab- its of interesting species observed in various parts of the state are published by other contributors. The Cooper Club now has 1 60 members — probably a larger list of ac- tive workers than is enrolled in any other state. The combined labors of so many observers should result in a considerable addition to our knowledge of California birds in the near future. — T. S. P. Book News I'he Audubon Calendar for 1902, just issued by the Massachusetts Audubon So- ciety, a miniature cut of one page of which is here reproduced, contains admirably col- ored life-sized figures of the Snowflake, Fox Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Wood Thrush, Meadowlark, and male and female l<H)2. The Auoubon Callndar In 'Science' for Oct. 4, 1901, Mr. W. E. 1). Scott makes an important contribution to the subject of the heredity of song in birds in an interesting account of his study of several Baltimore Orioles. He shows that two birds of this species "isolated from their own kind and from all birds, but with a strong inherited tendency to sing," origi- nated a song of their own quite unlike the normal Baltimore Oriole's song; and, fur- ther, that four more Baltimore Orioles "iso- lated from wild representatives of their own kind, and associated with the two who had invented the new song, learned it from them and never sang in any other way." The bird photographer who palms off pictures of mounted birds placed amid nat- ural surroundings as " photographs from life" still thrives and, to our surprise, occa- sionally succeeds in disposing of his wares to the editors of ornithological journals. 'By the Wayside,' the bright little monthly published by the Wisconsin and Illinois Audubon Societies at 635 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin, at the small subscription price of twenty cents per an- num, reflects the activity of these societies in educational matters and should receive the support of every one interested in this, the most important phase of Audubon work. Red Crossbills, with descriptive text from Minot's 'Land-Birds and Game-Birds of New England.' It may be procured of Miss Harriet E. Richards, Secretary, tare Boston Society of Natural History, linston, Mass. Price, 50 cents. That a book on nature would outsell the most popular novel of the season, would cer- tainly not have been predicted by the most sanguine nature-lover, and still we find the publishers of Mr. Seton-Thompson's 'Lives of the Hunted ' announcing the seventieth thousand copy of this work within the first month after its publication. We may add, that while the author of this book has recently resumed his legal name of Seton, he will continue to use Seton-Thompson as a pen name. Bird-Lore has pleasure in stating that the reviews of ornithological magazines, which have been so interesting a feature of the volume just closing, will be continued in 1902, Dr. Dwight reviewing 'The Auk,' Dr. Fisher, 'The Osprey' and 'Wilson Bulletin,' and Dr. Palmer, 'The Condor.'
