Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/155

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

134

account of ‘The Elcpaio of Hawaii,‘ by H, Wt Henshaw, two forms of this odd flycatcher being recognized, We find tur— ther along several annotated lists, one by 0. \viduiuun, on birds of \Vequetonsing, Mich.. one by Gt \Vells on those of Carriacou Island, West Indies, anti one by A. H. Clark on those of Margarita Is|and, Venezuela, in the last paper a Spine-tail (Synallaxir Ill/rural: "aria/it) and an Oriole (lrterur .rmlt/mrnur Italiaririuj being de- scribed as new forms.

‘Notes on the Specialized Use of the Bas- tard \Ving.’ by W. Ht Fisher, is accom— panied by photogravllres throwing new light on the position in flight of this little ‘ packet' of feathers. Instantaneous photography has done much towards solving the complex problem of flight, and such contributions as Mr. Fisher's are at great value. J. Dwight, jr., discusses ‘ Plumage-Cyclcs and the Re» lation Between Plumages and Moults,” and introduces a novel diagram that by the graphic method shows this relation in a number of species. 0, P, Hay contributes ' On the Finding of the Bones of the Great Auk (Flamm- impetmit) in Florida.’ and the southern range of an extinct species is thus extended. W. Er Saunders, who vis— ited inaccessible Sable Island, Nova Scotia, in May, 19m,givcs us some details cons cerning ‘The Ipswich Sparrow in its Slimmer Home,‘ especially data of six nests secured with eggs. The ‘Unusuai Abundance of the Snowy Owl iNytIea nyrlea) in New England and Canada’ during the past winter is vouched tor by R. Deane. who, on the evidence at many correspondents, concludes that unusual in- cursions of the Owls recur about once in ten years.

The department of ‘General Notes' is interestingly tilled with large and small items, halt-tone plates of the nest and eggs ot the Red~shouldered Hawk and of the Ring-billed Gull, and of the care pentcr work of the Pileated Woodpecker being inserted to illustrate some of the notes.

An 'Eleventh Supplement [0 the A. 0. U. Check-List of 1886] which occupies the concluding pages, furnishes food tor

Bird - Lore




reflectioni Stability in nomenclatureis stil only a dream, but. given the ‘law oi pri- ority,’ the ‘process of elimination,‘ enoug eager investigators, and an inflexible com- mittee, and eventually we shall have a new outht of fixed names, with pedigrees of syn— onyms in as direct descent as the kings of, Assyriail. D4, Jr.

JOURNAL or THE MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL Samaria—This publication continues to improve in interest, each number con- taining contributions of permanent value of which mention should be made in these columns.

In the issue for january, 1902, No, I, Vol, IV, we find, in addition to brief notes, a report of ‘The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Maine Ornithological Society,’ together with President Powers' address, delivered on this occasion; ‘Some Ornithological- Problems for Maine,’ a timely communica~ tion on lines which might well be adopted‘ at other State Ornithological Society meet- ings; a history of ‘One Yellow Warbler Family,‘ by Homer R. Dill, which would be more valuable it the author had given definite dates of the various incidents ht records; ‘The Bluebird,‘ by Guy H. Briggs, in which the author depiOI’CS the- decrease in the numbers of this species and at the samc time records the collecting of five nests and five sets of five eggs each from one pair of Bluebirds between May r, root, and July 6, rgor, when the birds, apparently both mentally and physically discouraged, abandoned further attempts at housekeeping!

Number 2, Vol. IV, April, I902, con- tains ‘A Trip to Musconglls Bay, Maine, Julya and 5, t90r,’ by Herbert L, Spinney, a writer who has contributed much interest- ing information in regard to coast-birds to the ‘Journal‘; ‘Shootiug Matches.’ by F. F. Burt, condemning the practice of I ‘Side-Hunts,’ which, it seems, are still indulged in by the “village loafers" of Maine; ‘A Plimbe’s Summer,‘ by C. H. Morrell; ‘ Winter Birds of Southern Pines, N. C.,‘ by C. H. Morrell, a group photo- graph of some of the members oi the Society, and various notes—F. M. C.