34 



Bird- Lore 



birds of Noitli and Middle America tliat we 

 trust the day is not distant when its author 

 will complete his monumental undertaking. 

 — F. M. C. 



Proceedings ok the Nebraska Ornithol- 

 ogists' Union at its Second Annual 

 Meeting, Omaha, Jan. 12, 1901. 8vo. 

 Pages loi, plates x. 



The Nebraska Ornithologists' Union 

 numbers 4 honorary, 63 active, and 36 

 associate members. The officers are: 

 President, I. S. Trostler; vice-president, 

 Caroline Stringer; recording secretary, E. 

 H. Barbour; corresponding secretary, R. 

 H. Walcott, Lincoln, Nebr. ; treasurer, 

 Lawrence Bruner. The organization con- 

 tains a number of well-known ornitholo- 

 gists, whose diversified interests in the study 

 of birds resulted in the presentation of the 

 following unusually attractive list of papers 

 at their second annual meeting: Presidents' 

 Address — Ornithology in Nebraska, and 

 State Ornithological Societies, L S. Trost- 

 ler; Birds in Their Relation to Agricul- 

 ture, Lawrence Bruner; Injurious Traits 

 of the Blue Jay, E. D. Howe; Ornithology 

 in the Schools, Wilson Tout; Birds as 

 Objects of Study in the Grades, Chas. For- 

 dyce; Nest of the Ruby-throated Humming- 

 bird (Ills.), F. H. Shoemaker; Young 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Ills.), Eliza- 

 beth Van Sant; Breeding of the Prothono- 

 tary Warbler, and Observations on Traill's 

 Flycatcher, M. A. Carriker, Jr.; Breed- 

 ing Habits of Bells Vireo, Merritt Gary; 

 Notes Regarding a Chimney Swift Tree 

 tills.), I. S. Trostler; Birds That Nest 

 in Nebraska, Lawrence Bruner; A Pecu- 

 liar Disease of Bird's Feet (Ills.), E. H. 

 Barbour; Internal Parasites of Nebraska 

 Birds, Henry B. Ward; Changes in the 

 Bird Fauna of the Prairies, L. Sessions; 

 Birds of Northwestern Nebraska, J. M. 

 Bates; Collecting Trip to Sioux County, 

 J. C. Crawford, Jr. ; Collecting Trip in 

 Cherry County, J. S. Hunter: Birds From 

 Western Nebraska, A. R. Graves; Migra- 

 tion Records and Nebraska Records, R. H. 

 Wolcott; In Memoriam: Martin Luther 

 Eaton, R. H. Wolcott; Miscellaneous 

 Notes.— F. M. C. 



Lives of the Hun tkd. Containing a J'rue 

 Account of the Doings of Five Quadru- 

 peds and Three Birds. By Ernest 

 Seton-Thovipson. Charles Scribner's 

 Sons, 1901. Pages 360. Drawings 200. 

 Price $1.75. 



Three of the seven stories contained in 

 this book relate to birds; they are entitled : 

 ' A Street Troubador; Being the Adven- 

 tures of a Cock Sparrow,' 'The Mother 

 Teal and the Overland Route,' and 'Why 

 the Chickadee Goes Crazy Once a Year.' 

 The last is inserted as an example of the 

 author's early work and is "true only in its 

 underlying facts;" the account of the Blue- 

 winged Teal and her brood is based on per- 

 sonal observation; the history of the House 

 Sparrow is founded on known facts in the 

 life-history of the species. We should, how- 

 ever, question here the alleged change in the 

 bird's nest-building instincts. So far as ex- 

 periment and observation go a bird inherits 

 its ability to construct a certain kind of nest, 

 and this instinct is not affected by its being 

 reared under artificial conditions. 



Mr. Seton's phenomenal success has 

 brought him a host of imitators, few of 

 whom were ever heard of before they entered 

 the field as his emulators. Between him and 

 them, however, there exists a wide difference. 

 Ernest Seton is a born naturalist. With 

 unusually keen powers of observation and a 

 broadly human sympathy with animal life, 

 he has the scientist's longing to know. 

 Twenty-five years before he became known 

 to fame he was studying and recording the 

 ways of birds and beasts. Nearly twenty 

 years before the publication of ' Wild Ani- 

 mals I Have Known ' he was contributing to 

 scientific journals. His popularity, there- 

 fore, rests on no slight foundation, but it is 

 the natural result of the development of a 

 marked literary ability which has made it 

 possible for him to express in words what 

 he sees and feels — F. M. C. 



Elementary Zoology. By Vernon Kel- 

 i.oc;c;, Professor of Entomology, Leiand 

 Stanford Junior University. New York. 

 Henry Holt &c Co. 1901. lamo. Pages 

 XV -(- 492 ; numerous illustrations. 



In the forty-six pages devoted to birds in 

 this book much of interest will be found in 

 regard to niethods of stud\-, structure and 



