T06 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 7 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGISV^OOLOGIST 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF 



BIRDS, 



THEIR NESTS AND 'EGGS, 



AND TO THE 



INTERESTS OF NATURALISTS. 



Under the Editorial Management o( 

 FRANK B. WEBSTER, . . . Hyde Park, Mass. 

 J. PARKER NORRIS, . . . Philadelphia, Pa. 



PUBLISHED AT THE 

 MUSEUM AND NATURALISTS' SUPPLY DEPOT 



OF THE 



FRANK BLAKE WEBSTER COMPANY, 



lNCORPOR.\TED, 



HYDE PARK, MASS. 



The O. & O. IS mailed each issue to every paid subscriber. 

 H you fail to receive it, notify us. 



WHO WILL ANSWER? 

 Editor of O. (('■ O. : I wrote you quite a 

 while ago asking a question that \-ou pub- 

 lished, but there has never been an answer to 

 it. I'lease try it again. " What is authen- 

 tically known in regard to the rapidity of flight 

 by different species of birds, and which is 

 considered the swiftest?" 



Yours truly, 



Jas. B. B. Smith. 



BIRDS OF MICHIGAN-A REVIEW. 



During the past month of June there ap- 

 peared a very comprehensive list of the Birds of 

 Michigan. This new work of one hundred 

 and fifty pages, embraces three hundred and 

 thirty-two species and races of birds found 

 in the peninsular State, with copious notes. 

 These notes are especially entertaining in 

 their reference to the food of birds, and in 

 many places the master hand of the author 

 is evident. This is particularly noticable in 

 the occasional descriptions of the food habits 

 of some insectivorous species, where the ob- 

 servations are very interesting. 



The author of this work is Professor A. J. 

 Cook, State entomologist of Michigan, a 

 gentleman eminent in his profession, and an 



instructor in various departments of science 

 at Michigan .Agricultural College. 



The professor has given evidence of his 

 ability in selecting the most appropriate notes 

 from the great mass of material at hand. 

 Michigan has been for many years one of 

 our leading states in the study of ornithology, 

 as it is the home of a large number of orni- 

 thologists. These students have, with scarce- 

 ly an exception, assisted Professor Cook. 

 The result has been that the combined ob- 

 servations have been boiled down, systemat- 

 ically reduced and sifted ; and we can safe- 

 ly say that the whole list is as exact as it is 

 possible for any compiler to construct it from 

 a general collection of notes. In fact it is 

 but proper to acknowledge it as a marvel in 

 compilation. 



There are several incongruities and a few 

 absurd errors, some of which are absolutely 

 ludicrous in their glaring stupidity. How- 

 ever, the author has wisely shielded himself 

 and escaped possible criticism by embracing 

 these infirmities of inaccurate observers 

 within evasive quotation marks. 



Michigan's bibliography is necessarily 

 large, and the very nearly complete list of 

 catalogues and articles fills t^velve pages. 

 This list presents notice of all available 

 written matter from 1832 to 1893, inclusive. 

 The first catalogue of the Birds of Michigan, 

 by Dr. Abr. Sager, 1839, embraced 164 spe- 

 cies. Dr.M. Miles's list, 1861, contained 

 203 birds, and Dr. Morris Gibbs's catalogue, 

 1879 embraced 309, species and races. 



We are pleased to note that the departed 

 friends and fellow ornithologists, W. H. 

 Collins of Detroit, Hon. I). Darwin Hughes 

 and Charles W. Gunn of Grand Rapids, and 

 Dr. H. A. Atkins of Locke, are quite fre- 

 quently quoted. In fact each one, living 

 and dead, who has advanced Michigan orni- 

 thology in a literary way has received due 

 credit, while many collectors and observers 

 who do not write are referred to in the text. 



In addition to the above matter is a re- 

 sume of the game laws, together with mater- 



