266 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



ITERARY 



and BIOGRAPHICAL 



The Sport of Bird Study. By Herbert K. 

 Job. New York: Outing Publishing Co., 

 1908. 



"Of making books there is no end"' may be 

 truthfully said of bird-books in particular, 

 but if, as a result, more bird-lovers are 

 thereby made, there is no need to call a 

 halt. Mr. Job has given us a companion 

 book to "Wild Wings" which should win 

 many a reader to the ranks of bird students. 

 Here, instead of leading us north, south and 

 out to sea, the author has confined himself 

 to the home birds of our North Eastern 

 States, doing for the East what Finley has 

 done for the far West. 



The arrangement is systematic, thirteen 

 chapters, treating of as many major divi- 

 sions of our birds, beginning with the upland 

 game birds and ending with the thrushes, 

 while a final chapter disposes of the few 

 inland water birds. 



Mr. Job writes with a more personal note 

 than heretofore, striving, and rightly, to 

 give in his text, not so much descriptions 

 of plumage and other hand-book facts, as 

 to present a series of actual experiences 

 and adventures which he and "Ned" en- 

 joyed in their sport of bird study. 



Although Br. Job's book is written avowed- 

 ly "for young or active people," and as pe- 

 rusal shows, for amateur bird-students, yet 

 he touches upon 

 a number of facts 

 of unusual inter- 

 est of which we 

 would wish more 

 details. For ex- 

 ample, the com- 

 plete change in 

 character of nest 

 of the kingbird 

 which buiilt on 

 the fence-post, 

 and the yearly re- 

 turn of apparent- 

 ly the same pair 

 of bords as in the 

 case of the night- 

 hawk which was 

 photographed 

 year by year from 

 1900 to 1907. 

 Such longevity in 

 an individual bird 

 is most interest- 

 ing, and we wish 

 that the author 

 had emphasized 

 this and certain 



author had emphasized this and certain 

 other phases of the life-histories of birds 

 concerning which we are woefully ignorant. 

 If ambitious young ornithologists could have 

 access to a "chapter of ignorance," it would 

 inspire them more than any other appeal. 

 In another edition of this book, the reviewer 

 would like to see an appendix of "one hun- 

 dred and one gaps in the life-histories of 

 our common birds!" 



Mr. Job's enthusiasm is contagious, and 

 there are few dull pages. When a man 

 will work three days, "walking twenty- 

 four miles and riding sixteen" to photograph 

 a ruffed grouse on her nest, the details 

 are worth reading! With all his love of 

 birds, the author is not over sentimental 

 about them. His estimate of the English 

 sparrow is that it is a foreign pest, "which 

 does not deserve to be considered as a bird, 

 but rather as a feathered rat, a pestiferous 

 mongoose to destroy bird life and drive out 

 our beloved native birds." Again, in an 

 introductory chapter he argues the case 

 of gun versus camera sanely and well. "Of 

 course there's nothing wrong in shooting 

 lawful game in moderation, but it's simply 

 this, that the new way is so much better 

 than the old that we dont care for shooting. 

 Gunners can hunt only in the fall, but our 

 hunting lasts the whole year. Their game, 



Nest and brood of Quail 



"Like little brown leghorn chickens" (p. 24). 



