finch £2105 arm 332mm:
Tu: Bums or NORTH AND MIDDLE AMER- ch. By ROBERT RIDGH’AY. Part II. Bullr No 50, U S. Natl Mtls.,VVaslr— ington, lgoz. 8 vol xx 834 pages: xxii plates.
We have already expressed our high 2})- predation of the first part of this great work. treating of the Finches. and can accord to this second part equally sin- The families included. with
the number of species and snhsper-ies givcn
cere praise.
in each, are as follows: 'l‘anagers. llz: BIat-kbirds Orioles, etc, in: Honey Creepers. 29; Warblers, 131.
Experience with Part I of the work proves in practice its great utility: and we imagine each succeeding part will he more cordially welcomed than its predecessor. as use brings a realization of the enormous value: of the book—F. M. C.
LONDUN Births. AND ()rmex SKE HES. By Tr DIGBY Plcol'r. New Edition. rer vised anrl enlarged London. Edward
Arnold. New York. Lougmnn . Green 2;; Co. Svo. x ii+esa pages: Splares.
“London Birds,’ "I'he Birds of the Uuter Fame: ' “The Birds‘ Nesting Season.‘ ‘I‘hc Last English Home of the Beardiul Tit.‘ 'St. Kilda from Withr out.‘ and the ‘Haunts of the Shcarwater‘ are titles of some of the chapters in this volume antl indicate the nature of its Con- tenh‘. his more interesting experieni-es afield, and
Shetlnnrls in the
The author has evidently drawn on
these he reruunts in so readablr a manner that the book is a more than usuallr altmt‘e tive one oi WL' therrfote. to our readers as a work in which
its (-la, command it.
rhey will find much intnnnaiinn pleasingly prasentcd.7F. \l. C. THE. SX‘ORY or -\ MARTIV COLONY. By
J, winner licnss, V’Vaynesburg, rn. Published by the author.
Mr. Jacohs' cxperient‘c with Purplr Mar» tins is exceedineg interestng and possesses both scientific and practical value, His first Martini house was erected in 1896. lt contained twenty rooms and was tenanted
that year by eight birds. who succeeded in rearing eleven young. The following year this house was occupier] by twenty birds and the number of young raised was thirty» five.
The third year a second Martin house. of thirty-four rooms, was erected, and twenty»eight birds took possession of it that e twenty-[our birds nesred in house number one: number of young reared being between ninety and one hundred. The fourth year (r899) a third house was added and the colony grew to
on: hundred and
season; in: the total
. birds. thirty-mo in each of rhe first two houses, and forty-two in the ticw house. The number of \oung which reached mzttllritt' this season was be- tween one hundred and fifty and one hun- dred and seventytivc. At the curl of nnlv four years. therefore. the colony contained ncarly three hunder birdsl
Mr. Jacobs nmv constructed several Mur- tiu houses, which \vt-H: arct'lcti by other residents of wnyneshnrg, and. in diu- st'a» son. were rlaimetl by the birds for which they were designed.
It is a bigth significant {art that. in nearly every insinni-e. die new houscs “'L‘rt: taken pnsstssiou at by males land probably, also, temalesl at thc prct‘inus yenr. the progenv. donhrless. of the birds nlrendy established. As longy as additional nesting- sites were aflorded the birds. it appears that . If, however. additional quartch had not been available the birds would. naturally. have been obliged to scarrh for them elsewhere ,
they i-nnrinned rapidly to increaw
when. it a home had not been r . nvcrcd, there would have been no increase in the total progeny of this original ('Ulttnyiun interesting illustration ol how cfi‘rctually the nnmhers of n species may he governed by the lark of suitablc nesting-plums. We must l'tlel' the reader to Mr. Jat‘obs' paper for lnrrher dernils of this welcome contribution to our intimate knowledge of
birds' habits. We may add. however, that
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