Book News and Reviews 



55 



might sound less formidable after one 

 becomes accustomed to it. 



One hundred and sixty-nine species and 

 sub-species of birds are recorded from the 

 area in question, and pp. 224-319 are 

 devoted to a presentation of the facts 

 ascertained in regard to their distribution 

 and habits. 



In discussing the behavior of geographic 

 races on the margins of their habitats 

 (pp. 393-395), the authors state their 

 belief that the characters on which geo- 

 graphic races are based are stable and not, 

 therefore, somatic. Their paper is illus- 

 trated with a colored map of the life 

 zones of the San Jacinto area and an 

 exceedingly interesting profile, along the 

 "divide separating desert and Pacific 

 drainages, in southern California, from the 

 high southern Sierras to the Mexican line, 

 showing life-zones." Like others of the 

 series to which it belongs, in manner of 

 arrangement and appearance this paper 

 is above criticism. — F. jNI. C. 



The Gannet, A Bird With a History. 

 By J. H. GuRNEY. Illustrated with 

 numerous photographs, maps and draw- 

 ings, and one colored plate by Joseph 

 Wolf. Witherby & Co., London, 1913, 

 8vo. 11-567, pp., upward of 150 ills. 



That a volume of over 600 pages could 

 be profitably devoted to the history of 

 but one kind of bird would probably be 

 doubted by most readers of books, and to 

 them we would commend Mr. Gurney's 

 work as a monograph which, in thoroughly 

 covering its subject, illustrates also the 

 need of space in which to do it. The 

 author writes of the names and distribu- 

 tion of the Gannet, of the localities in 

 which it breeds or has bred, and a census 

 of existing colonies permits him to esti- 

 mate the number of Gannets now living 

 as 101,000. 



He treats at length of the Gannet's 

 nesting and general habits, of the develop- 

 ment of its young, of its food and the 

 manner in which it is secured, of its flight, 

 of mortality among Gannets, with some 

 discussion of the age which this bird 

 attains, and there are also chapters on 

 the Gannet's plumage, osteology, anat- 



omy, its historic and prehistoric remains 

 and its allies. 



The mere enumeration of these major 

 headings indicates the importance of this 

 work, while the exceptional definiteness 

 of the data presented makes it not only a 

 noteworthy contribution to the literature 

 of ornithology, but to the study of animal 

 life in relation to environment. — F. M. C. 



The Birds of Connecticut. By John 

 Hall Sage and Louis Bennett 

 Bishop, assisted by Walter Park 

 Bliss. Bull. 20, State Geological and 

 Natural History, Hartford, 19 13. 8vo, 

 370 pp. 



Written by men who have long been 

 leading authorities on the bird-life of 

 Connecticut, it goes without saying that 

 this volume both adequately and accu- 

 rately presents recorded knowledge and it 

 at once takes it place among the stand- 

 ard state lists. The method of treatment 

 adopted involves a general statement of 

 the manner of occurrence and status of 

 the species, earliest, latest, and unseason- 

 able records, and the situation of the nest, 

 number of eggs and nesting dates for the 

 breeding species. 



The total number of species and sub- 

 species recorded is 334, of which 80 are 

 listed as Residents, 78 as Summer Resi- 

 dents, 38 as Winter Residents, 24 as 

 Transient Visitants and 89 as Accidental 

 Visitants. The last-mentioned figure 

 shows that slightly more than one-fourth 

 of the birds known from Connecticut are 

 of only casual occurrence, a fact of no 

 small interest in the study of distribu- 

 tional problems. In this connection it 

 may be suggested that in the light of 

 this winter's invasion of Acadian Chicka- 

 dees the record of the Hudsonian Chicka- 

 dee on page 174 should refer to littoralis. 



A bibliography occupies pp. 202-257; 

 and Part II of the work 'Economic 

 Ornithology,' by Bishop, filling pp. 261- 

 360, is an important addition to the Bulle- 

 tin. 



The authors state their belief that the 

 collecting of birds and eggs for scientific 

 purposes "can never appreciably reduce 

 their numbers, as long as they are pro- 



