iSooh jBtetD0 ant) i^etoietos 



A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds 

 OF Missouri. By Otto Widmann. St. 

 Louis, Mo., 1907. [Trans. Acad. Sci- 

 ence, St. Louis, Vol. XVn, No. I, 288 

 pages.] 



A state bird-list presentini;; authorita- 

 tively and adequately what is known of 

 the distribution and manner of occurrence 

 of the birds of the area under considera- 

 tion is one of the most valuable contri- 

 butions to the foundation of ornithologi- 

 cal knowledge. It is a stable starting 

 point for all subsequent investigation 

 and done well it has not to be done again 

 in a generation. 



The preparation of such a list requires 

 long-continued e.xperience in the field to 

 which it relates, not alone that the author 

 may gain much information at first-hand, 

 Vjut that through personal observation 

 he may weigh critically all data contributed 

 by others. 



These conditions and many others are 

 admirably filled by the author of this 

 volume and the result is of that high order 

 which his previous contributions to orni- 

 thological literature have led us to e.xpect 

 from his pen. 



Introductory sections treat of the sources 

 of information which have been drawn 

 on, — bibliography, explanation of terms 

 used, faunal areas, climate, topography, 

 decrease of birds, and bird protection. 

 The twenty pages devoted to these sub- 

 jects are followed by the list proper, in 

 which '383 species and subspecies are 

 treated. Of this number 353 have been 

 duly accredited to the state and of these 

 162 are known to nest. 



The annotations contain a general 

 statement of the birds' range, followed by 

 a detailed statement of its status in Mis- 

 souri, of interest to students of distri- 

 bution at large and of special value to 

 the local student. We congratulate Dr. 

 Widmann on the appearance of this book 

 in both meanings of the word. It should 

 do much to stimulate the studv of birds 

 in Missouri.— F. M. C. . 



American Birds Studied and Photo- 

 graphed From Life. By William; 

 Lovell Finley. Illustrated from Pho- 

 tographs by Herman T. Bohlman and 

 the Author. Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 New York, 1907. lamo. xvi -^ 256 

 pages, 48 full-page half-tones. 



Mr. Finley has here brought together 

 some of his earlier studies of bird-life 

 which, originally published in ' The 

 Condor' and other magazines, we are 

 glad to have in book form. His skill and 

 patience, together with that of his asso- 

 ciate, Mr. Bohlman, are too well known 

 to call for comment here, but due empha- 

 sis should be made of the fact that although 

 the text of these stories of bird-life was 

 evidently prepared with a popular au- 

 dience in mind, it contains a large amount 

 of original and novel information in regard 

 to the birds treated, resulting from the 

 intimate, personal relation which the 

 bird photographer establishes between 

 himself and his subject. 



The formal bird biographer will there- 

 fore find here much material worthy of 

 quotation, and for this reason we could 

 wish for fuller data in regard to the place 

 and time where these studies were made. 



We must express our regret that Mr. 

 Finley has marred his book by inaccu- 

 racies in nomenclature which has led 

 him to give the common names of eastern 

 birds to western species which are not 

 even their representatives. Neither the 

 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) nor the 

 Bluebird (Sialia sialis), for example, 

 are found west of the Rockies, nor are 

 they represented there by subspecific 

 forms. As Mr. Finley very truly remarks 

 (prefatory note) "the naturalist who uses 

 the camera in the field often has the ad- 

 vantage of backing his observations with 

 proof," but when he labels a photograph 

 of a California Jay 'Blue Jay' (see figures 

 facing pages 165 and 168) he is not making 

 proper use of his evidence. 



Mr. Finley's work is good enough to 

 stand on its merits and we believe he 



(40) 



