2^oofe Ji^ettjjS anti CHebietuiS 



Birds of La Plata. By \V. H. Hudson, 

 with 22 colored illustrations by H. 

 Gronvold. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 

 London and Toronto. K. P. Dutton 

 & Co., New \'ork, 1920. Ro>. 8vo. 

 Two volumes. \'ol. I, pp. xviii + 244, 

 12 ills. \'o]. II. p|). xi + 240. 



Some thirty-two years ago, as the senior 

 author of a work on Argentine birds,* 

 Dr. P. L. Sclater introduced to the world 

 an Argentine ornithologist who has since 

 won an enviable reputation as a liter- 

 ary naturalist. To this work the junior 

 author contributed observations on the 

 230-odd species of birds known to him, 

 while Sclater, in addition to supplying the 

 scientific framework of the book (descri])- 

 tions, synonymy, etc.), added notes on 

 about an equal number from the recorded 

 writings of other ornithologists, the whole 

 making a complete treatise on the avifauna 

 of the .\rgentine. 



.\cting on the frankly expressed belief 

 that the "only interest" the original work 

 "still retains for the reader is the account of 

 birds' habits contributed by me" Hudson 

 has "thrown out" all the matter contrib- 

 uted by Sclater leaving only his own 

 observation on the birds of the La Plata 

 region. 



.\lthough the reference value of the 

 book is thereby materially descreased, 

 Hudson's share of the joint work con- 

 stituted so large a part of it and contained 

 so much original matter that it well 

 deserves publication alone. Furthermore, 

 the fact that the volumes of iS88-8q 

 have long been out of ])rinl is an additional 

 reason for making Hudson's admirable 

 bird biographies accessible to a larger 

 audience. 



The text of the original api)ears to have 

 been practically unchanged, only such 

 modifications having been made as the 

 dilTerent character of t lie book necessitated, 

 or, in some few instances (e. g. Eskimo 



* Argentine OrnitholoRy, a descriptive catalogue 

 of the birds of the Argentine Republic; by P. I-. 

 Sclater, with notes on their habits l)y \V. H. Mud- 

 son. London. K. II I'ortcr, 1888. 



Curlew; here called 'Eskimo Whimbrel') 

 the changed status of the species de- 

 manded. 



The two volumes are beautiful examples 

 of bookmaking, and Gronvold's plates 

 are artistically pleasing as well as ornitho- 

 logically illustrative. — F. M. C. 



Report of E. \V. Nelson, Chief of 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, for 

 the year ending June 30, 1920, pp. 

 1-36. 



From the first to the last paragraph 

 this report is solid meat. No one can read 

 it without being impressed by the wide 

 scope of the Bureau's activities and the 

 value of the service it is rendering. 



Man cannot depart far from a purely 

 savage state without coming into conflict 

 with other forms of life which share his 

 environment, and when he reaches that 

 stage in his development which we are 

 pleased to term civilization, his relations 

 to organic nature have become so com- 

 plicated that it is of supreme importance to 

 his welfare to understand them. It is 

 primarily the function of the Biological 

 Survey to promote this end by investigat- 

 ing our relations to other mammals and 

 to birds, and, after ha\-ing determined 

 the economic status of a species, the Survey 

 is entrusted with the task of protecting 

 harmless and useful species and of destroy- 

 ing noxious ones. 



.\ large part of the present report deals 

 with these phases of the Survej-'s work, 

 wherein it is clearly shown that during the 

 past year millions of dollars have been 

 saved stock-growers and agriculturists by 

 the destruction of animals injurious to 

 their interests. There is also a summary 

 of the work of the Scientific StalT of the 

 Survey, that court which gathers and 

 weighs the evidence before deciding 

 whether a species is beneficial and to be 

 conserved, or injurious and to be con- 

 demned. 



'I"lu' Sur\i-y is further I'lit rusted wit !i 

 the administration of the .Migratorx- Bird 



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