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Bird - Lore 



intensive study, which brings out many 

 points of interest. There is a world of 

 significance in the following quotation: 

 "just how much this behavior is tied up 

 with instinctive activity is of course 

 beyond knowledge." This, however is no 

 reason for discouragement in the making 

 of minute observations. Mr. A. A. 

 Saunders seems to have succeeded well 

 in 'An Ecological Study of the Breeding 

 Birds of an Area near Chateau, Montana.' 

 An exact census is hardly ever possible, 

 but repeated counts are better than the 

 repeated guesses of many local lists. It is 

 pleasant, however, to find so excellent 

 a list as that by Messrs. L. S. Golson and 

 E. G. Holt, on 'Birds of Autauga and 

 Montgomery Counties, Alabama.' The 

 putting of three pictures on one plate has 

 not given a happy result in this case. 



Mr. V. Burtch certainly got a remark- 

 able 'ghost' photograph of Holbcell's 

 Grebe, which he explains under the cap- 

 tion, 'Does a Grebe Spread its Wings Just 

 before Diving.' Mr. H. W. Wright 

 describes an unprecedented incursion of 

 Acadian Chickadees into eastern Massa- 

 chusetts in the fall of 1913, some seventy 

 having been seen at many different places. 



The General Notes are filled with 

 unusual records too numerous to mention, 

 and the department of Recent Literature, 

 especially the reviews of items in the 

 ornithological journals, is fully up to its 

 high standard. The annual lists of mem- 

 bers of the A. O. U. conclude the issue. — 

 J. D., Jr. 



Book News 



The first fourteen volumes of Bird- 

 Lore recently sold for forty dollars, 

 unbound, a sum nearly three times as 

 large as that for which they were pub- 

 lished. 



The Annual Report of the Director of 

 the Department of Marine Zoology of 

 the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 for 1913, contains a list of 57 species of 

 'Birds Observed on the Florida Keys, 

 April 25 to May 9, 1913,' by Paul Bartsch, 



a note on the 'Homing Instinct in the 

 Noddy and the Sooty Tern, which Nest 

 upon Bird Key, Tortugas,' by John B. 

 Watson and K. S. Lashley, and another 

 upon 'Nesting Instincts of Noddy and 

 Sooty Terns,' by K. S. Lashley. 



In continuing his important experi- 

 ments on the homing instinct of Noddies 

 and Sooty Terns of Bird Key, Dr. Wat- 

 son, among other tests, had six of the 

 former and four of the latter released 

 near the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 515 miles from the Key. Of the ten, 

 eight returned (three Noddies and five 

 Sooties), the first one arriving three 

 days and twenty-two hours after it was 

 set free. 



'Birds in the Bush,' the new depart- 

 ment of 'The Guide to Nature,' con- 

 ducted by Mr. E. J. Sawyer, is abun- 

 dantly illustrated by its editor with draw- 

 ings of birds, which shows them much as 

 they appear in Nature. The plan is an 

 admirable one, and so well executed 

 that these drawings, aside from their 

 attractiveness, should prove a help in 

 identifying the birds they represent. 



The Department of Game and Fish of 

 the State of Alabama issues an admirable 

 Bird Day Book, the seventh of its series. 

 It is prepared by John H. Wallace, Jr., 

 the Game and Fish Commissioner, con- 

 tains 88 pages and a number of illustra- 

 tions, both colored and uncolored, forming 

 a most attractive and useful publication. 



If the manuals they issue may be 

 considered an index, Alabama and Wis- 

 consin may, we believe, claim to be far 

 in the lead of other states in the atten- 

 tion they give to Bird Day. 



The Fifteenth Annual Report of the 

 Michigan Academy of Science contains a 

 paper (pp. 178-188) by N. A. Wood, on 

 'The Breeding Birds of the Charity 

 Islands with Additional Notes on the 

 Migrants.' From these Saginaw Bay 

 islets 170 species of birds have now been 

 recorded of which thirty-seven are known 

 to breed. 



