Book Notes and Reviews i75 Birds whose local decrease is probably due chiefly to persecution by the House Spar- row ; — as the Least Flycatcher, Purple Finch , Song Sparrow, Indigo-bird, Tree Swallow, House Wren and Bluebird. (5) Birds whose decrease, and, in a few instances, total disappearance, has been not only local but general throughout New England, and evidently due chiefly or wholly to systematic persecution on the part of man ; — as the Hooded Merganser, Green- winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Wood- cock, Lesser Yellow-legs, Upland Plover, Quail, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Wild Pigeon, Red-tailed Hawk and Great Horned Owl." Of certain other birds whose decrease in in the face of an apparently abundant food supply is difficult to understand, it is said: " I have observed — as indeed, who has not! — that few birds — excepting those which, like Swallows, Terns, Herons and Gulls, are accustomed to nest in colonies — tolerate very near neighbors during the season of repro- duction. At its beginning, each pair takes possession of a definite tract of woodland, orchard, swamp or meadow, which the male is ever on the alert to defend against tres- passers of his own kind and sex, although he often seems quite willing to share his domain with birds of other, and perhaps closely related species. ... In my opin- ion the desire for exclusive possession so conspicuously shown by the male, and often by him alone, is usually the result of sexual jealousy. This, as is natural, makes him intolerant, during the breeding season, of the near presence of rival males. If his con- cern were chiefly in respect to the food supply, it would be equally manifested at every season, and towards all birds who subsist on the same food that he and his mate require — which is certainly not the case." Of the ever-to-be-regretted introduction of the House Sparrow, it is further said (p. 66) : " It is probable, however, that only those of us who personally remember the conditions which existed before the Sparrows came, and who actually witnessed the changes that accompanied their increase and general dispersion, can realize to the full, the disastrous and far-reaching effects which their introduction has had on our native bird population." The ' Annotated List ' with ' Additional Notes ' occupy 314 pages, 249 species being enumerated as having been found in the Cambridge region, while the status of others whose occurrence is probable is also often fully given. In addition to the extended information derived from other workers, chiefly members of the Nuttall Club, over forty years' virtually continuous observation and methodic note-keeping, have placed the author in possession of an unequaled amount of data, of which he has evidently made the best of use. The present, and often past, status of each species, the seasons of its occurrence, its nesting dates (if a breeding bird ),■ and much biographical matter are presented in an admirable manner. Writing from the fullness of his experience, the author has evidently had to curb rather than force his pen. He never writes above his subject, but, keeping himself well in con- trol, avoids, on the one hand, the stilted iterations of the stereotyped local list, and, on the other, the 'fine writing ' which is generally a confession that we have but little to say, or of inability to say what we want to say. Here, incident, sentiment, pleasing description and statistics are com- bined with rare literary taste and judgment, into a well-rounded whole, and we commend this style of writing to those whose exuber- ant love of nature leads them to describe the simplest field experience in superlatives. In brief, so far as its contents are con- cerned, Mr. Brewster's book is, in our opinion, above criticism, a fact which but increases out regret that its usefulness is sadly impaired by its unnecessarily large size — a cumbersome quarto, when we might readily have had a convenient octavo of the same — or even fewer — number of pages. We have spoken of this matter before in reviewing Dr. Townsend's 'Birds of Essex County,' and it is unnecessary to repeat what was said at that time (see Bird-Lore 1905, 212). The omission of a Table of Contents we have already mentioned. The index is a marvel of thoroughness and accu-
