THE OSPKEY. 



25 



Mr. H. A. Shaw of Grand Forks, N. D. has'taken a 

 set of eggs of the Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawk 

 showing the large complement of ft eggs. 



At the home of our California editor there is re- 

 joicing over the recent advent of a baby girl. 



Dr. Coues was recently elected an honorary mem- 

 ber of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



Prof. D. B. Burrows has returned to his work at 

 Casa Blanca, Texas. 



'The Portland, (Me,) Sunday Times' speaks of 

 the authors of 'Citizen Bird' thus: "Dr. Coues 

 himself figures in rather a new role in 'Citizen Bird,' 

 having hitherto been known in such adult fields of 

 labor as in the authorship of ' The Century Diction- 

 ary ;' or critical work upon the Lewis and Clarke and 

 Pike expeditions and similar editorial presentation 

 of MSS.; manuscript in the government archives 

 of Canada hidden away for a century undisturbed 

 and bearing the same relation to pioneering on scien- 

 tific lines in the British Dominion as Lewis and 

 Clarke and Pike, with us. Coues' ' Key to North 

 American Birds' occupies the same place as Gray's 

 Manuals in Botany. 



"But from amongst the learned Doctors of Science 

 and Philosophy and turning from their investigations 

 and classifications, we now have Dr. Coues tired for 

 the nonce of disputing in high places, taking little 

 children by the hand and teaching them something 

 of the birds he has himself loved from his early days. 

 In this pleasant task he collaborates with Mrs. 

 Mabel Osgood Wright, well known for her delight- 

 ful and successful transcription of birds, flowers, 

 fields and woods, in ' Birdcraft ' and 'The Friend- 

 ship of Nature.' Also turning from an older to a 

 younger audience Mrs. Wright has written 'Tommy- 

 Anne' which brought her the devotion of hosts of 

 children who recognize in her a court historiographer 

 after their own hearts. " 



Recent Literature. 



Bird Life. A guide to the study of our common 

 birds. By Fr.ank M. Ch.\pman, Assistant Curator 

 of the Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology 

 in the American Museum of Natural History ; Mem- 

 ber of the American Ornithologists' Union ; author of 

 ' Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America,' etc. 

 With 75 full-page plates and numerous text drawings 

 by Ernest Seton Thompson, author of 'Art Anat- 

 omy of Animals,' ' The Birds of Manitoba,' etc. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Company, 1897. Cloth $1.75. 



Mr. Chapman's new book did not reach this office 

 promptly on publication because of a mistake of the 

 publishers. But this does not hinder the enjoyment 

 of so excellent a book, though it does defer its pres- 

 ent notice. 'Bird Life' is of a less technical nature 

 than Mr. Chapman's 'Handbook,' and is intended to 

 give to the uninitiated student of ornithology a gen- 

 eral knowledge of bird-life and .some acquaintance 

 with the commoner birds. The opening chapters 

 are ; 'The Bird : its place in nature and relation to 

 man;' ' The Living Bird ;' or the form and uses of 

 the wings, tail, feet and bill; 'Colors of Birds;' 

 treating of the colors in relation to age, climate, sex, 

 protective coloration, etc.: 'Migration of Birds;' 

 ' The Voice of Birds ;' ' The Nesting Bird :' ' How to 

 Identify Birds ;' and ' A Field Key to Our Common 

 Land Birds:' including, for a greater part, a 'Key' 

 admirably adapted to the use of those who know 

 nothing of classification. Following these and filling 



about two-thirds of the volume, are brief biographies 

 of about one hundred species. With these are dis- 

 plaxed 75 full-page plates of birds mentioned in the 

 text. They are by Ernest Seton Thompson, the 

 well-known artist and ornithologist, and are of un- 

 usual excellence. One of the plates is reprinted in 

 this number of The Osprey. — W. A. J. 



A List of llu' Birds of Maiiir, showing their dis- 

 tribution by counties and their status in each county. 

 Prepared under the auspices of the United Ornithol- 

 ogists of Maine, B\ Oka \V. Knkiht, B. S., Assist- 

 ant in Natural Historw Bulletin No. 3. The Uni- 

 versity of Maine, Department of Natural History. 

 Augusta : Kennebec Journal Print, 1897. 



Ornithologists are indebted to Mr. Knight and the 

 Maine State rni\ersity for an excellent list of the 

 birds of Maine. Under each species as they are 

 taken up in order of classification is a short note by 

 the author, ranging from two lines to a page in ex- 

 tent. Following this is the 'County Records' — notes 

 showing the distribution and status of the species, 

 obtained from observers in as many as possible of 

 the counties of the state and from previously pub- 

 lished records. These records form a conspicuous 

 part of the work throughout, except with the rarest 

 species. A hypothetical list is given, including such 

 species as probably occur in the state but whose occur- 

 rence has not been proved by capture of specimens, and 

 also those recorded from Maine or New England by 

 previous writers but which are now positively known 

 not to have been taken within the actual limits of the 

 state : for instance, many birds from Grand Manan 

 Island, which is politically a part of New Brunswick, 

 have previously been recorded as from Maine. A 

 summary shows 320 species positively occuring in the 

 state: of these, 26 are permanent residents, 114 are 

 summer residents, 74 are chiefly or entirel}- migrants, 

 39 are winter residents or winter visitors of fairly 

 regular occurrence, 65 are accidental or casual visit- 

 ants or stragglers, while 2 are extinct species. To the 

 further value of the volume a chapter on ' Faunal 

 Areas,' a bibliography, and the Laws of the State 

 of Maine which relate especially to ornithology and 

 oology are included. A supplement to this list will 

 be issued as soon as enough additional information 

 to warrant it has been secured. — W. A. J. 



The Blue Jav and its Food. By F. E. L. Beal, 

 Assistant Biologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 Reprinted from the Yearbook of the Department of 

 Agriculture of i8g6. .\ summary of the paper is 

 given as follows : 



"The most striking point in the study of the food 

 of the Blue Jay is the discrepancy between the testi- 

 mony of field observers concerning the bird's nest- 

 robbing proclivities and the results of stomach ex- 

 aminations. The accusations of eating eggs and 

 young birds are certainly not sustained, and it is 

 futile to attempt to reconcile the conflicting state- 

 ments on this point, which must be left until more 

 accurate observations ha\e been made. In destroy- 

 ing insects the Jay undoubtedly does much good. 

 Most of the predaceous beetles which it eats do not 

 feed on other insects to any great extent. On the 

 other hand, it destroys some grasshoppers and cater- 

 pillars and many noxious beetles, such as Scara- 

 bjeids, click beetles (Elaterids), weevils (Curculionids), 

 Buprestids, Chrysomelids, and Tenebrionids. The 

 Blue Jay gathers its fruit from nature's orchard and 

 vine\'ard, not from man's : corn is the only vegetable 

 food from which the farmer suffers any loss, and here 

 the damage is small. In fact, the examination of 

 nearly 300 stomachs shows that the Blue Jay cer- 

 tainly does far more good than harm." 



