THE OSPREY. 



Ill 



Birds Winteiung in Khode Island. — Mr. 

 Howard Mason shot a Hermit Thrush at Es- 

 coheag', Dec. 31, 1897, in some dense pine 

 woods. On Jan. 31. 1S99, and again on Feb. 2, 

 I saw a Fox Sparrow in company with some 

 Eng'lish Sparrows, amongst the bushes on a 



small pond about 200 feet fi'om my house. In 

 this same locality two Song' Sparrows and a 

 AVinter Wren are keeping each other company 

 throug'h the dreary winter months. — H. S. 

 Hathaway, Cranston, E. I.. Feb. 6, 1899. 



In the Osprey's Claws. 



BtLi.ETlNS 54 AND 55, of the New Hampshire 

 Ag-ricnltural Experiment Station, have reached 

 us. In these papers Mr. Clarence il. Weed 

 shows how useful the Chickadee and Chipping 

 Sparrow are in destroying- uo.xious insects. His 

 work deserves commendation. — E. ('. 



The Jouhnal of the Maine Oknithological 

 Society, Vol. I, Xo. 1, for January. 1899, 

 reaches us somewhat delayed. It is a quar- 

 terly, Svo., this number of 12 pages, the official 

 organ of the Society, devoted to Maine ornith- 

 olog-y, with the motto, "Bird protection, bird 

 study, the spread of knowledge thus g-ained, 

 these are our objects." These are certainly 

 worthy objects, and we are always glad to -(vel- 

 come meritorious publications relating' to 

 birds.— E. C. 



Birds of New Hampshire. — A preliminary 

 list of the birds of Belknap and Merrimack 

 counties, with notes by Xed (Sic!) Dearborn, 

 was presented to the faculty' of the New Hamj)- 

 shire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic 

 Arts, as a thesis for the degree of Master of 

 Science. .Tauuary. 1S9S. and jn'inted as an Svo. 

 pamphlet of pp. 34. It is based upon the au- 

 thor's observations for ten years, 1888-98. sup- 

 plemented by what information was available 

 from other sources. The list is certainly in- 

 complete, but authentic as far as it goes, and 

 the notes are fair. The worst feature is the 

 bad spelling' of many of the scientific names, 

 due to persistence in the sins of the A. O. U. 

 Check List. Any college boy should be a.shamed 

 of this, and the college authorities, if they ex- 

 amined his thesis, ought not to have permit- 

 ted it.— E. C. 



Bi'LLETix OF The Michigan Ornithological 

 Cluh, Vol. II, No. 3-4, July-Dec, 1898. — This 

 excellent periodical reaches us not much de- 

 layed, and the eilitors promise that this shall 

 be the last double number, from which we infer 

 the renewed and increasing activity of the 

 Club. Next to Mr. Chaijman's Bird Lore, the 

 Ibilletin makes the best ajipearance of all the 

 ornitholog'ical periodicals which now reach us 

 — it is as well printed as The Osprey used to 

 be when Mr. .Tohnson was in chargfe. The ar- 

 ticles are well up to the mark, and the edi- 

 torial matter remarkably good. The Cooper 

 Club now has on its hands a very pretty quar- 

 rel, to see whether California or Michigan shall 

 do most to promote ornithology, and we hope 

 they will both win in their generous interstate 

 emulation. As between Mr. Leon J. Cole and 

 Mr. Chester Harlow, each shows himself to be 

 a good editor, well deserving the support of his 

 club and of all who are interested in that most 

 delightful branch of natural historv which re- 

 lates to birds.— E. C. 



Brush. Sedge and Sti'iiule. By Dwight W. 



Huntington. Part V. pp. G5-80. plates: folio. 



The Sportsman's Society. Cincinnati, 1S9S. 



This magnificent and luxuiious work con- 

 tinues to apiiear with regularity, and the au- 

 thor is to be congratulated u])on the success 

 of his artistic etTorts. Everything is good — 

 the plates are brilliant impressions, the typog- 

 raphy is beautifid. the text is attractive to 

 every lover of sport who has any aesthetic 

 sense. The present numl)er has a fine colored 

 plate of (hu-k shooting, and nian.\' othei- illus- 

 trations, chiefly devoted to the Turkey in its 

 several subspecies, and to certain introduced 



