Book News and Reviews 69
The Ornithological Magazines
THE Awe—The January ‘Auk’ has for a frontispiece a fine pllotogravure, taken of a Herring Gull on its nest. A price has been set upon the heads (and other parts) of these birds by milliners, so that they and their allies need rigid protection to save How much has been afforded them in their breeding Colo» nies through the Thayer fund is told in Mr. Dutcller's report, wllicll occupies many pages with this and other bird protection work. Mrs Stone also contributes a report.
Mr. Bent continues his paper on the ‘Nesting Habits of the Anatidae of North Dakota,‘ with some further illustrations Two annotated lists appear, one on ‘Sum- mer Birds of the Great Dismal Swamp,’ by John w. Daniel, Jr., and another on ‘ Birds of the Northeastern Coast of Labra- dor,‘ by Henry W. Bigelow. A desirable item is omitted in the latter list; vizr, the actual in Labrador by the Brown»Harvard Expedition of 1900. Jas. H. Hill tells pleasantly of "The White- winged Crossbill in Captivity,‘ captured in Connecticut. Wm H Kobbe writes on ‘The Status ct Certain Supposed Species of the Genus Larut.’ maintaining that L. wegoe is identical with L. urge/lion”. There is also a brief account of the Nines teenth Congress of the A. Or U., held in New York, and those interested in new forms of birds will find several described by R. Ridgway and B. At Mearns. The latter also describes a hybrid between the Barn and Cliff Swallows, which makes a second specimen of this kind on record
General Notes and Reviews are too exten- sive to he entered into, although the record~ ing of no less than six Cory's Bitterns at Toronto, by J. H. Fleming and the re- View of R. Ridgwny’s ‘ Birds of North and Middle America’ seem at particular inter est. The ‘Solution of the Ornithological Mystery’ of Mr. Brewster is by no means conclusiveij. D. JR.
them from exterminationr
time spent
Book News THE pronounced success of ‘ Country Life in America' must be gratifying alike to lovers of the country as well as those who
delight in beautiful typography. The il- lustrations are not only unusually artistic but strikingly illustrative and. so far as the straight half-tone process at present permits, they are evidently reproduced with justice to the originals. The March numher, the fifth thus far issued, is especially attractive and seasonable. Under the head of "l‘he Coming of Spring‘ a calendar of ‘ Work,’ ‘ Recreation.‘ and ‘Nature Study’ for the month is given. While in the main excel- lent, the author shows the danger of trying to cover too wide a field by advocating as a “novel sport v the killing of Hawks! After virtually admitting the economic value ot the birds by saying that at this season they " congregate on the meadows where food is plentiful" (he does not add that the "food " consists of meadow mice) he proceeds to give suggestions for the best way to shoot these “feathered sharks.” and this, be it turther noted, in the mating and breeding One wonders that so obvious a slip escaped the editorial eye.
In ‘The Flight of the Osprey’ Alfred 1. Meyer shows a number of very interesting photographs of Ospreys on the wing.
season i
HOUCHTDN, MlttLlN & Co., will publish shortly ‘A Handbook of Birds of the Western United States,’ by Mrs, Florence Merriam Bailey. This greatly needed book will in— elude the birds west of the tooth meridian and contain over 500 illustrations, the prin- cipal ones by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
Tr-re BIOLOGICAL Suxver. of the U. S. Depir of Agriculture has recently issued a revised edition of its Bulletin No. 12, ‘Legis- [atiou for the Protection of Birds other than Game Birds,’ by Dr. T. S. Palmer. This admirable and useful publication not only presents the federal and state laws relating to non»game birds, but treats of such allied matters as ‘ Birds in Captivity,’ ‘Birds used for Millinery Pllrposes.‘ ‘Bird Study in the Schools,‘ Bird and Arbor Day Laws,‘ etc., and is therefore indispensable to every one actively interested in bird protection,
‘0th Butt) FRIENDS.‘ a game of bird cards, seems unusually well designed to arouse in children an intelligent interest in birds.
