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Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana. 

 Zoological Contributions from the Trop- 

 ical Research Station of the New York 

 Zoological Society. By William Beebe, 

 Directing Curator, and G. Inness 

 Hartley, Research Associate, and Paul 

 G. Howes, Research Assistant. With 

 an Introduction by Col. Theodore 

 Roosevelt. Vol. I. New York Zoo- 

 logical Society, in Broadway, New 

 York City. 191 7. 8 vo. xx + 504 

 pages, numerous illustrations. 



Mr. Beebe is to be congratulated on the 

 privilege of heading what, so far as the 

 reviewer knows, is the first expedition to 

 leave this country in search, chiefly, of 

 facts concerning birds rather than their 

 skins. The museum man and the pro- 

 fessional collector are obliged to bring 

 back specimens. The former, for the ex- 

 hibition halls and laboratories of the insti- 

 tution he represents, and which requires, 

 furthermore, some tangible, appraisable 

 results for the money expended; the latter, 

 to ensure the success of his enterprise or, at 

 least, to assist in defraying his expenses. 

 To Mr. Beebe, therefore, belongs the 

 credit of impressing those in authority in 

 the organization which already owes so 

 much to his labors, with the value of 

 researches, to the outcome of which no 

 pecuniary valuation could be attached, but 

 which might result in securing information 

 of high scientific importance. 



We hope that the showing he and his 

 associates make in this report (which 

 should be considered a report of progress) 

 will lead to the sending of many similar 

 expeditions. 



Taking a region (about Bartica, British 

 Guiana) whose bird-life is fairly well 

 known, where faunal problems are not 

 complicated by altitude, and hence where 

 intensive collecting is not essential, Mr. 

 Beebe and his associates devoted six 

 months (March to August, 1916), to a 

 study of various problems, chiefly orni- 

 thological, which presented themselves. 



Specimens were collected when they 

 were needed for identification or study, but 

 no attempt was made to amass a collection, 



each man feeling wholly free to devote his 

 entire time to observation without the 

 necessity (ever present in the collector's 

 mind) of securing at least so many speci- 

 mens a day. 



As a result of this method, we have in 

 this preliminary report so many additions 

 to our knowledge of the habits of South 

 American birds and so many suggestions 

 in regard to further subjects for investiga- 

 tion, that we cannot begin to enumerate 

 them in this review, which indeed is 

 designed to comment on Mr. Beebe's 

 unique undertaking rather than to detail 

 its outcome. 



We can only hope that he will return in 

 safety from his service as an aviator in 

 France and, with additions to his staff, 

 be spared to continue his studies in the 

 jungles of British Guiana. 



Meanwhile we advise every student of 

 tropical life to secure this volume.— F.M.C. 



Twelve Months with the Birds and 

 Poets. By Samuel A. Harper. Ralph 

 Fletcher Seymour [Chicago?]. 12 mo. 

 295 pages. 



Devoting a chapter to each month in 

 the year, the author pleasantly inter- 

 weaves his own observations and appre- 

 ciation of birds with those of the orni- 

 thologist and poet. His reading has evi- 

 dently carried him far afield in both the 

 science and sentiment of ornithology, 

 and, combining the results of these excur- 

 sions with his own, he has written a vol- 

 ume which contains much of interest for 

 both bird students and general readers. 



It is a little difficult to reconcile his 

 fondness for the English Sparrow with a 

 genuine love of the birds in whose ways wc 

 find some expression of those traits which 

 we commend in mankind, but at best wc 

 may credit him with the courage to cham- 

 pion a member of the feathered race whose 

 friends arc found chiefly among those un- 

 familiar with other forms of bird-life. 



Excellent taste has been shown in the 

 makeup of this book, which may well 



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