PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS

SOUTHWESTERN REGION ISSUES NEW BULLETIN

Vol. I, No. 1, of Region III Quarterly made its appearance this month as a 25-page journal designed to disseminate information concerning National Park Service activities in Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and the southern portions of Colorado, Nevada and Utah---the territory administered through the Santa Fe field headquarters. The inaugural issue is an expertly edited, well balanced collection of materials dealing with some of the geological, historical, archeological, biological, forestry and engineering aspects of the region.

An introductory notice by Regional Director Hillory A. Tolson explains that "articles will be written in non-technical phraseology with a view to making them interesting and instructive. . . The articles in this first issue have been written by Region III Office personnel to indicate the type and quality of material to be used. The Quarterly can not be published regularly, however, without field cooperation and assistance. . . It can not succeed without contributions from superintendents, rangers, inspectors, and others. . . It is proposed to include, from time to time, pertinent articles written by persons outside of the Service. Such articles will give an outside viewpoint which should be helpful in considering Service problems."

Associate Recreational Planner Leo A. McClatchy is editor of the new bulletin and Architect Cecil J. Doty is art editor. Contributors to the first issue are Geologist Charles N. Gould, "What Made Grand Canyon?"; Associate Engineer James B. Hamilton, "Threatening Rock"; Wildlife Technician W. B. McDougall, "Modern Man and the Primitive Era"; Archeologist Erik K. Reed, "The Meaning of Archeology"; Associate Forester W. Ward Yeager, "Pinon-Juniper Forests", and Aubrey Neasham, Regional Supervisor of Historic Sites, "The Cavalcade of the Southwest.

SERVICE INFORMED OF NEW PERUVIAN BIRD STUDIES

Victor H. Cahalane, Acting Chief of the Service's Wildlife Division, has received a personal communication from William Vogt, former editor of Bird-Lore, which suggests some of the interesting ornithological returns that may result from his commission by the Peruvian Guano Commission to conduct a study of the so-called guano birds of the coastal islands of Peru as a feature of a program designed to conserve a resource of worldwide economic importance.

"It is a beautiful, fascinating and exciting part of the world," wrote Mr. Vogt. "The work, which is turning out to be a combination of behavior studies in rather primitive birds -- with ecological studies -- in an environment of almost arctic simplicity, seems to be shaping up well. . . I am pretty sure I have hit upon a movable 'limiting factor'. These birds are as sensitive to microscopic changes in the climate as some people are to eggs. . . There have been a number of banded Franklin's gulls picked up since I have been here, banded by me, and they get quite a play in the newspapers. The bird is so ubiquitous and so abundant along this coast, you wonder where it breeds. I have been in the middle West in season but I have never seen anything to compare with the flocks here. They work the haciendas just as they do the grain fields in the Dakotas.

"Aside from the Franklin's gulls, I have seen few North American birds. Shore birds, save surf birds and turnstones, seem not to reach the islands very often. There seems to be little killing of shore birds here though there is some. But the country is sparsely settled and the natives too poor to buy guns."

NEW WILDLIFE PUBLICATIONS TO BE ISSUED

Delivery to the printer of materials for five (possibly six) new publications is recommended as a part of the Wildlife Division's activities during the current fiscal year. The titles include The Coyote in Yellowstone, by Adolph Murie, intended as the fourth issue in the fauna series of the Service; The Wildlife Portfolio, by Joseph S. Dixon, which has been in preparation for several years; Mammals and Birds of Sequoia National Park, by the latter author; a bulletin covering Dr. Murie's investigations of wolves, bighorn and caribou in Mount McKinley National Park, and a publication by A. E. Borell on mammals of the proposed Big Bend National Park. Also on the recommended list is a bulletin on animal life of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, material for which is expected to be assembled late in the year by Park Naturalist Arthur Stupka and others.

TWO FULL-LENGTH BOOKS DESCRIBE NATIONAL PARKS

The Romance of the National Parks, by Harlean James, executive secretary of the American Planning and Civic Association and the National Conference on State Parks, and National Parks of the Northwest, by Martelle (Mrs. Earl A.) Trager, wife of the chief of the Service's Naturalist Division, both infect home bodies with the tantalizing virus of travel.

Miss James's book, illustrated by maps and 123 excellent photographs, emphasizes the great parks of the west but there also is a section concerning the national areas east of the Mississippi River. "Read it and drive!" said a reviewer of The New York Herald Tribune. "You can't look at these photographs, or read this story, without wanting to be off. . ." The 240-page volume (Macmillan) is on sale at $3.

Mrs. Trager's book (Dodd, Mead and Company) describes the pleasures of tours taken by a family through Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier and other western national parks. There are seven folding maps and an appendix which offers, in guide book fashion, specific information needed by the traveler. A second volume, concerning other western parks, is contemplated by the author.