BOOK NOTICES 247 



to frequent the various localities before the great changes took place. 

 Along with his own observations are given those of his many able help- 

 mates, who have placed their notes at his disposal for this work, from 

 between the dates of 1832 and 1860 and to the present time. " Thus," 

 says Mr. Brewster (p. 8), "we have knowledge of them, extending 

 back over a practically unbroken period of more than seventy years." 

 He tells us of the changes in the aspects of, for instance, Mount 

 Auburn, formerly known as " Sweet Auburn." He says of it, 

 " Knolls and ridges have been levelled, swamps and meadows 

 drained or filled ; and woods, groves, thickets, and orchards swept 

 away, to make place for settlements of houses, or open, closely- 

 cultivated truck-farms ; . . . and throughout the length and breadth 

 of the land the ear is wearied by the ceaseless din of swarming 

 House-sparrows." And in felicitous language and in similar terms 

 he treats of other localities, swamps, marshes, etc., and then 

 illustrates the past and present bird-life of each ; and thereafter, in a 

 few well-chosen words, defines the whole area under treatment as 

 affected by the trend of the annual migrations. "It is a well- 

 established fact," he tells us, " that a large proportion of the smaller 

 migratory birds, which pass and repass through Eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, . . . follow lines of flight which border closely on the 

 sea coast " ; and then he illustrates the facts. A section follows 

 (pp. 61-64) which treats of " Faunal Changes" generally, and these 

 he places under headings such as : " Changes in Local Conditions," 

 " Recent Local Protection," " Persecution by Man," " Persecution by 

 the House-sparrow," and illustrates the processes, some of which 

 apply to the whole larger tract of New England. The remaining 

 part of the volume is occupied by the " Annotated List," the 

 plan of which and principles which he has set for himself to 

 follow are spoken of in the opening pages of the preface. 



A few words and I have done : I wish to direct attention to 

 the maps and plates. The maps consist of maps of the Cambridge 

 Region in 1635 anc * 1896, and illustrate the section on "Early 

 Writers," etc.; and at the end of the volume there is a map of 

 "Fresh Pond" and its surroundings about 1866. The plates are : 

 " Frontispiece Thos. Nuttall " ; "A Secluded Pool in the Maple 

 Swamp," 23rd June 1900; "Cabot Shooting Stand," Fresh Pond, 

 1832-1840 ; Acanthis brewsteri (Ridgeway coloured}. 



J. A. H.-B. 



A PRELIMINARY LIST OF DURHAM DIPTERA, WITH ANALYTICAL 

 TABLES. By the Rev. W. J. Wingate. 416 pp. 7 plates. Being 

 Vol. II. of the "Trans, of the Nat. Hist. Soc. of Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne." New series. (London and 

 Edinburgh : Williams and Norgate ; Newcastle-upon-Tyne : F. and 

 W. Dodsworth, 1906.) Price 95. 



A writer's aim must always influence any judgment on his 



