96 



THE OSPREY. 



Otr Native Birds: How to Protect Them 

 and Attract Them to Our Homes. By D. lyaiig-e. 

 With Illustrations. — New York. The MacMillan 

 Company. 18<^H> [12mo. pp. i-xii. l-lb2. SI. 00.] 



In this little manual the author discusses the 

 various causes which operate to decrease the 

 numbers of our birds, suggests means by which 

 the birds may be attracted, and makes recom- 

 mendations for their protection. The several 

 captions under which the subject is treated are 

 g-iven below, and will serve for a very good 

 index of what the book contains: "Are the 

 Birds decreasing-?" "Causes for decrease of 

 Song Birds"; "The decrease of Game Birds"; 

 "Protecting Song Birds and attracting them to 

 Our Homes: (1) By furnishing them trees, vines 

 and shrubs; (2) Provide nesting boxes; (3) Pro- 

 vide drinking and bathing fountains; (4) Feed- 

 ing birds in winter, and in unfavorable weather 

 at other seasons; (5) Miscellaneous — Nesting 

 material, dust baths, gravel and lime; (6) Pro- 

 tecting the birds from their natural enemies; 

 (7) The English Sparrow question; (8) Birds on 

 hats, bo3's, collectors, so-called bird students, 

 bird hunters, ubiquitous gunners; (9) Song Birds 

 as food"; "Education and the birds: (1) Educa- 

 ting adults; (2) Educating the growing genera- 

 tion"; "Game protection from tlie Nature Lover's 

 Point of View"; "The Birds before Uncle Sam" 

 (an exercise for children). Uiider "Miscellane- 

 ous Information" there are added lists of maga- 

 zines, protective societies. Ag-ricultural experi- 

 ment stations, bulletins of the Department of 

 Agriculture, and helpful books for the begin- 

 ner, the last of which, however, might obviotisly 

 be greatU' extended. 



Altogether, Professor Lange has brought into 

 convenient form for reference an amount of in- 

 formation which will be appreciated hy everyone 

 interested in the important subject of bird pro- 

 tection.— H. C. O. 



The AviEAi'XA OF THE Pkibilof Islands. 

 By William Palmer. — The Fur Seals and Fur- 

 Seal Islands of the North Pacific Ocean, Part 

 iii. Special Paper xvii, (pages 355-431, plates 

 xxxviii-xli). 



Notwithstanding that the recent considerable 

 scientific interest in the Pribilof Islands has 

 resulted in the appearance of a number of more 

 or less voluminous reports, very little during- the 

 past twenty-five years has been published con- 

 cerning the birds of this isolated group; and Mr. 

 Palmer's elaborate treatise is thus all the more 

 welcome. While drawing- freely from all sources 

 of information, published or otherwise, the 

 author gives us from his own abundant experi- 

 ence and careful studA' much of valuable in- 

 terest. 



Following a check-list of the species and a 

 brief introduction, the topography of the 

 Islands is considered, chiefly from an ornitholo- 

 gical point of view; the two main islands, St. 

 Paul and St. George, together with the tvs'o 

 smaller ones. Walrus and Otter, being sepa- 

 rately described. The ornithological history of 

 the Islands is briefly stated; the six species de- 

 scribed and the four added to the North Ameri- 



can fauna from specimens taken in the gToup 

 are listed; and all the species are tabulated with 

 reference to the manner of their occurrence. 

 The geog-raphical distribution of Pribilof birds, 

 including the faumal aflinities of the Islands, 

 receives considerable attention, leading up to 

 the conclusion that "The Aleutian Islands, the 

 islands of Bering Sea, and much, perhaps all, of 

 the mainland coasts of Alaska and northeastern 

 Asia to the Arctic Sea" constitute, within the 

 Holarctic Region, a "subregion" which is 

 here called the "■Alruticau". A table showing 

 the distribution of the faniih' Alcidae in North 

 America, and some remarks on the migration of 

 Pribilof birds are also added. 



Succeeding this more general matter is the 

 catalogue proper, consisting of 69 species with 

 various critical and biographical notes, the 

 latter often extensive. A further analysis of 

 the list discloses the fact that but 15 are land 

 birds; and that only 20 are known to breed, 

 though 9 others are doubtful, included in the 

 saiiie category. Eighteen species, more than 

 a fourth of the whole, are entered without an^' 

 known instance of actual capture. In his ac- 

 count of the turnstones (Aroiaiia) Mr. Palmer 

 takes occasion to separate the middle American 

 form of .-/. interpres from that of Alaska, the 

 former standing as . /. inoiinella (Linnaeus); 

 but specific rank seems inadequately established, 

 and the bird should probably be called .Irenaria 

 interpres )iiori>iella. A previously unrecognized 

 raceof theBarn Swallow, from Alaska — Hirundo 

 erythroiiastra uualaschkeyisis (Gmelin) is also 

 disting^uished. Reasons are given for consider- 

 ing- Tiin^a ptilocneniis and Passcrina nivalis 

 toivnsendi as full species; in the former case 

 with apparent justification; but in the latter not 

 so, for the principal character claimed for town- 

 sendi — its larger size — is invalidated by Mr. 

 Palmer's own measurements. 



Various notes scattered through the paper 

 present some of the results of the author's in- 

 vestigations on the several feather g-rowths, par- 

 ticularly those of early stages of plumage, and 

 from a desirable addition to our knowledge of 

 the subject. A new name — Mesoptile — is given 

 to the individual feathers of the plumag-e imme- 

 diately following- those of the natal down, or 

 A'cossop/i/rs, to distinguish the former from the 

 Telcoptilt's, or feathers of the adult; but the 

 necessity or advisability of such action is not 

 obvious, inasmuch as a sufticient structural dif- 

 ference from the teleoptiles seems difficult to 

 establish. 



The classification of the higher groups com- 

 prised in the present list is based largely upon 

 characters derived from the neossoptiles, and, 

 it is scarcelv necessarv to add, differs rad- 

 ically from that of the A. O. U. Check-List. 

 The four halftone plates represent (1) 

 typical scenes on Walrus Island, (2) a series 

 of eggs of the Pacific Murre {Uria l.omvia 

 arra), showing variations, and (3, 4) various 

 phases in the development of feathers. A bib- 

 liography of the more recent publications touch- 

 ing the "birds of the Pribilof Islands fittingly 

 closes this excellent paper. — H. C. O. 



