I3S 



Bird - Lore 



ington, D. C. Full directions for making 

 the census and blank forms for the report 

 will be forwarded in time to permit well- 

 considered plans to be formulated before 

 the time for actual field work. As the 

 Bureau has no funds available for the 

 purpose, it must depend on the services 

 of voluntary observers. 



Very truly yours, 



(Signed) E. W. Nelson, 

 Assistant Chief, Biological Survey. 



First Report of the Brush Hill Bird 

 Club. 1914. Milton, Mass. [address 

 Readville, Mass.] 8vo. 123 pages, i 

 map, 6 plates. 



This report is, in effect, a manual of 

 what might be termed civic ornithology. 

 It contains more information on how to 

 realize on what Joseph Grinnell has well 

 called "bird-life as a community asset" 

 than any publication with which we are 

 familiar. 



With an evident appreciation of the 

 fact that to be properly effective bird- 

 protection must be accompanied by bird- 

 attraction, detailed instructions, with lists 

 of dealers, etc., are given in regard to bird- 

 houses, bird-baths, feeding-devices, 

 methods of feeding, lists of food, and of 

 trees and shrubs which bear food. There 

 are also lists of publications, particularly 

 those which relate to bird-protection and 

 attraction, as reprints of game laws, a 

 map showing the game preserves of Massa- 

 chusetts, a list of the birds of Milton, and 

 the constitution of the Meriden Bird Club, 

 after which the Brush Hill Club is 

 modeled. 



The most important part of this report, 

 however, is an account of the activities of 

 the Brush Hill Club, and how it succeeded 

 in arousing a general community interest 

 in the value and beauty of an asset con- 

 cerning which most of its members had 

 been largely or wholly ignorant. The 

 lesson to be gained from the Club's suc- 

 cess is well put in this paragraph from its 

 president's (Dr. Joel E. Goldthwait) 

 'Message:' 



"The work of the Club should be a 

 great encouragement to similar work in 



other communities and it should be 

 remembered that the work was started 

 and has been carried on very largely by 

 those having previously had little knowl- 

 edge of birds or their habits. The prob- 

 lems are so simple that very little scientific 

 knowledge is required while the benefits 

 to a community in material and esthetic 

 form are so great that it is the feeling of 

 our Club such work should be a part of 

 every suburban or rural community." — 

 F. M. C. 



Birds or the Indian Hills. By Douglas 

 Devv^ar. John Lane Co., London and 

 New York. i2mo. 264 pages. 



The three 'parts' of this book treat of 

 the 'Birds of the Himalayas' (pp. 9-180); 

 'The Common Birds of the Nilgiris' 

 (pp. 181-232); 'The Common Birds of 

 the Palni Hills' (pp. 233-248). 



The reader is assured that he "will be 

 confronted with comparatively few birds, 

 and should experience little difficulty in 

 recognizing them when he meets them in 

 the flesh." In order to avoid being too 

 technical, however, descriptions of plu- 

 mage and of habits are so combined, and 

 the former are often so inadequate, that 

 the book is far from being a satisfactory 

 guide to the identity of the birds it 

 includes. A good 'Field Key' would have 

 occupied less space and have been emi- 

 nently more serviceable. 



For those who have some knowledge of 

 birds, the book should be more useful. In 

 any event, we should be grateful for this 

 small, inexpensive manual on the bird- 

 life of a region where local demand for 

 bird books cannot offer a publisher much 

 inducement to cater to its wants. — 

 F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Wilson Bulletin. — -The most 

 important contribution to the December, 

 1914 (Vol. XXVI, No. 4) of this quarterly 

 is Lynds Jones' 'Nineteen Years of Bird- 

 Migration at Oberlin, Ohio.' The migrant 

 species are arranged chronologically, begin- 

 ning with those that come in February 



