214 Bird- Lore Boulder Reveries. By W. S. Blatchley, Indianapolis, Ind. Nature Pub. Co., 1906. i6mo, 230 pages, 10 full-page half-tones. Here is a series of pleasing, restful nature essays by a man who is a somewhat unusual combination of poet and scientist. There is no doubting the sincerity of the senti- ment which has prompted expression in these " Reveries," and which, in no small measure, has helped their author to share his joy in the life of the fields with his readers. At the same time, Mr. Blatchley conveys much interesting information concerning the flowers, insects, beasts and birds of which he writes. — F. M. C. The Ornithological Magazines The Auk. — The July number opens with a paper by W. Stone, entitled 'Some Light on Night Migration.' A conflagration in Philadelphia on March 27, as a matter of fact, threw a great deal of light on a host of passing night migrants! Some of them fell into the flames, but the vast majority pressed steadily on their northward line of flight. On a later page Mr. Stone gives a valuable review of Audubon's works, with exact dates of publication, lists of new species, correc- tions and other matter. An able contribution from the pen of L. Stejneger, 'Isolation versus Natural Selec- tion,' contains much food for speculative minds, it being practically a review of H. O. Jenkin's recent paper on variation in the Hairy Woodpecker. The 'List of the Birds of Louisiana' is continued by Messrs. Beyer, Allison and Kopman, the present in- stalment dealing chiefly with migration; and an unusual bird wave of Snowy Owls is discussed at length by R. Deane, who also contributes several more unpublished letters of Audubon and of Baird. The Quail of Santa Catalina Island, Cali- fornia, is described as a new species, Loph- ortyx catalinensis by J. Grinnell, and among 'General Notes' we find a Hummingbird new to the United States fauna recorded from Arizona by L. B. Bishop. The bird is a young Uranomitra sal-vini, of which Mr. Brewster described the type and only other known specimen. Of special interest are H. F. Tufts' notes on the nesting of both species of Crossbill in Nova Scotia. In A. W. Butler's notes on Indiana birds, some measurements are given to the thou- sandth part of an inch. The utility of such refinement applied to birds' wings, tails, etc., is certainly questionable. The October number of 'The Auk' opens with 'Some Unpublished Letters of A. Wil- son and John Abbot,' by W. Stone ; followed by extended 'Ornithological Note* from Western Mexico, etc.,' summed into a local list, with illustrations of Boobies, Man-o'- War and Tropic Birds at home by H. H. Bailey. Another local list of 'Birds Observed in the Florida Keys' is by H. W. Fowler, and there is one by J. T. S. Hunn on the birds of Silver City, New Mexico. Still another is by J. H. Fleming on the 'Birds of Toronto, Ontario,' the last deserving of special mention because dates and records seem to have been sifted with unusual care and accuracy. A. H. Clark, writing on 'The West India Black Forms of the Genus Ccereba, y considers the black Honey Creepers of St. Vincent and of Grenada merely color phases of the normal Creepers of these islands. W. H. Bergtold writes pleasantly 'Concern- ing the Thick-billed Parrot' of Mexico; C. J. Hunt describes the 'Change of Loca- tion of a Crow Roost,' and I. G. Wheelock gives details of the 'Nesting Habits of the Green Heron.' C. W. Beebe observes 'The Spring Moult of Larus atricilla in a captive Laughing Gull, a photograph showing the winter and the summer hood. He calls atten- tion to the peeling of the sheath of the bill, the color beneath being brighter. The odor of gasolene at last pervades even the pages of the staid and respectable 'Auk,' for there is contained therein an up-to-date article 'A-birding in an Auto,' by M. S. Ray. Its value as a list is questionable, — in species in 1,100 miles! — for, while the descriptive portion is entertaining, the hasty list seems superfluous. The 'Auk' is to be congratulated on com- pleting its twenty-third year, 518 being the number of pages put forth with unimpaired vitality in 1906. — J. D., Jr.
