^oofe ji^ehjs; antr CtetJietoj! 



British Birds. Written and Illustrated 

 by A. Thorburn, F.Z.S. With eighty 

 plates in colors, showing over four hun- 

 dred species. In four volumes. Vol. II. 

 Longmans, Green & Co., London and 

 New York. 1915. 4to pages, vi4-72; 

 plates, 21—40. 



All that we said in reviewing* the first 

 volume of this superb work applies with 

 equal truth to volume two. The twenty 

 plates it includes figure the Crows, Larks, 

 Picarise (Swifts, Woodpeckers, Cuckoos, 

 etc.). Owls, Hawks, Cormorant, Gannet, 

 and Herons. Mr. Thorburn again demon- 

 strates his skill in grouping a number of 

 not closely related species on the same 

 plate and, where circumstances permit 

 of the inclusion of but a single species on 

 a plate and consequent greater breadth 

 of treatment, he gives us a masterly exhi- 

 bition of his art; as, for example, in the 

 plates of the Golden Eagle and Eagle Owl. 



The remaining two of the four volumes 

 which complete, this monograph are 

 promised for 1916. — F. M. C. 



How TO Attract Wild Birds About 

 THE Home. By Neil Morrow Ladd, 

 President of the Greenwich Bird Pro- 

 tective Society, Inc. With an Introduc- 

 tion by Charles D. Lanier. To which is 

 added the First Annual Report of the 

 Greenwich, Conn., Bird Protective 

 Society. 8vo. 68 pages, 40 illustrations, 

 mostly from photographs taken by the 

 author. Price, 35 cents. 



This publication is worthy of rank with 

 the reports of the Meriden and Brush 

 Hill Bird Clubs. It contains much prac- 

 tical information in regard to the ways and 

 means of attracting and protecting birds 

 and of conducting bird clubs, and it con- 

 tains also a record of what may be accom- 

 plished by well-directed, persistent efforts 

 to arouse the residents of any communitj' 

 to an appreciation of the beauty and use- 

 fulness of birds. 



Everyone interested in the problems of 

 local bird clubs will do well to get a copy 

 of Mr. Ladd's attractive booklet. — F. M. C. 



*BiRD-LoRE, XVII, July-August, 191 S, p. 294. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The half-dozen general 

 papers in the October number of 'The 

 Condor' are unusually varied in character. 

 In a delightful description of 'Character- 

 istic Birds of the Dakota Prairies,' Mrs. 

 Florence Merriam Bailey gives an account 

 of the short-eared Owl, the Prairie Chicken, 

 Sharp-tailed Grouse, Longspur, Lark Bunt- 

 ing, and other species found 'in the open 

 grassland.' An extinct 'Walking Eagle 

 from Rancho La Brea, California,' is 

 described by Loye Holmes Miller under 

 the name Morphnus daggetti. This remark- 

 able 'Eagle on stilts' had a tarsus as long 

 as that of the Great Blue Heron, and in 

 some respects evidently resembled the 

 Secretary Bird of South Africa. 



Two of the shorter papers read before 

 the A. O. U. Congress on the Herring Gull 

 and the California Woodpecker are pub- 

 lished in full. In discussing the 'Estimated 

 Average Age of the Herring Gull' from 

 data collected in New York Harbor, 

 Nichols reaches the conclusion that there 

 is a very heavy mortality in birds between 

 the first and second winters, and that the 

 average age of those which survive the first 

 season is 16.2 years. In 'A Late Nesting 

 Record for the California Woodpecker,' 

 Mrs. Myers mentions two broods of young 

 found at Los Angeles, one on September 

 II, and the other on October 19. 



Dr. L. B. Bishop contributes critical 

 notes on 13 species of California birds, and 

 describes the Dwarf Savannah Sparrow 

 resident in southwestern British Columbia 

 as a new sub-species under the name 

 Passercidus sandwichensis brooksi, based 

 on a specimen collected at Chilliwack, 

 B. C, by Allan C. Brooks. 



'A Partial List of the Summer Resi- 

 dent Land Birds of Monterey County, 

 California,' is given by Pemberton and 

 Carriger from notes made on two trips in 

 December 1903 and May 1909. It contains 

 notes on 100 species, and is illustrated by 



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