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Nov., 1916 PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 237 Kolyma River. Incidentally an American race of the Black-bellied Plover is separated from the two forms occupying Europe and East Siberia, respectively, on the ground of small size. It is named ?quatarola squat?- rola cynosurae, with type from Baillie Isl- and, Arctic America. The validity of this race has lately been queried by Todd (An- nals Carnegie Museum, x, 1916, p. 214). Thayer and Bangs find that, "like the knot, sanderling, turnstone and some other wad- ers", the Dunlin divides into three races. These are: Pelidna alpina alpina, of western Europe; P. a. sakhalina, of east Siberia; and P. a. pacifica, of North America. The latter name, given by Coues years ago, is thus restored to use for our American bird. Koren was able to furnish field notes ac- companying his sl?ecimens, and these pro- vide basis for valuable facts in regard to migration times and nesting habits. Another expedition financed by Mr. Thay- er visited East Siberia and Arctic Alaska during 1913 and 1914. The two collectors 'of the party were Joseph Dixon and W. Sprague Brooks. The published report 2 is under the authorship of the latter, and ac- knowledgment for help is made to Outram Bangs and H. C. Oberholser. The notable features in this paper are the descriptions of several supposed new forms of American birds. Larus thayeri is named from Elles- mere Land. It is evidently a member of the very variable Larus glaucescens series. A far-reaching study of the gulh of Arctic America will be required before we can rest assured of the true status of all the variants. A western race of the Harlequin Duck, type from Kamchatka, is named Histrionicus histrionlcus pacificus. Also the White- winged Scorer of the Pacific is separated from the Ariantic bird under the name Oide- mia deglandi dixoni, type from Humphrey Point, Arctic Alaska. On geographic grounds this case is not exactly clear, for the species nests in the interior of North America, the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards constituting its wintering grounds. A new race of Winter Wren is described from the Semidi Islands, Alaska, and is call- ed Nannus hiemalis semidiensis. Also the Commander Island Rosy Finch is found sep- arable from the Aleutian race and is called Leucosticte griseonucha maxima. Names employed for North American birds, and not used in the 1910 A. O. U. Check-List, are: Lagopus lagopus albus, Squatarola squata- (2) 2Votes on Birds from ?EaM Siberia and ,4 retie ,41aska. By W. $PRaGVr BROOKS. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.. LIX, September. 1915, pp. $61-413.2 figs. in text. rola cynosurae, Pelidna alpina pacifica, Planesticus migratorius caurinus, and Loxia curvirostra sitkensis. Critical comment is often given concerning the status of forms. Then there is considerable amount of bio- graphical material mostly of a very welcome nature. But the temporary loss of one of the field note-books prevented full use of the facts gathered by this expedition. In the third paper ? F. Seymour Hersey lists with annotations the birds encountered by him during the summer of 1914 in a trip along the coast of Alaska north as far as Point Barrow, with visits to the Siberian coast. This trip was undertaken under the patronage of A. C. Bent and with the chief object in view of securing material pertinent to the latter'/? work on the Life Histories of North American Birds. It is to be inferred that only a part of the total of information gathered is presented now. Naturally, with so much territory covered in a single season, no single locality was explored with any degree of thoroughness; also many of the localities were such as had been visited repeatedly before and[ for which there are in the literature many bird records. We are led in this connection to criticise the paper on the score of the incon- sequentialfry of many of the remarks con- cerning the species. Actually new matter is small in proportion to the whole amount of print. In other words, the paper is "pad- ded". There is, too, an element of vagueness which is decidedly provoking to the student of distribution when searching for definite records of occurrence. The important find of a colony of Sterna aleutica was made; but where? Were specimens taken of Larus vegae? The references to Larus occidentalis, L. calffornicus, and L. delawarensis are more or less indicative of their having been found within Alaskan territory, but again there is lacking that clear-cut explicitness that would make these important records of most use to the serious student.--J. GRINNELL. MINUTES OF COOPER CLUB MEETINGS NORTB:ERN DIVISION Au?us?.--The regular monthly meeting of the Northern Division of the Cooper Ornith- ological Club was held at the lVfuseum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, August 17, 1916, at 8 P. ?. President Storer (3) .4 LiM o/ tke ?irds Observed in ,41aska and Noted. eastern Siberia during the Summer of ?9? 4. By F. Sr- MOWR I-IrRs?. Smiths. Misc. Coil.. vol. 66, no. 2, 1916, pp. 1-33,