THE OOLOGIST 



333 



the Martins carried food material to 

 the young. 



This is a new occurrence as far as 

 my observations are concerned. I 

 never heard of Martins nesting in 

 such situations. 



S. Diclvey. 

 Madison, Wis. 



This is the usual and ordinary nest- 

 ing place for this species, in the towns 

 and cities of the central west. — Ed. 



Books Received. 



Personal Observations and Notes on 

 Breeding Migrant or Visiting Birds on 

 the Niagara Frontier, made by Otto- 

 mer Reinecke. 



This is a list pubilshed in the pro- 

 ceedings of the Buffalo Society of 

 Natural History and covers the obser- 

 vations of the writer during the years 

 of his residence in that vicinity. It 

 is prepared with the well luiown and 

 often demonstrated scientific accur- 

 acy of the writer and illustrated by 

 numerous half tones, and is a contri- 

 bution deserving of a place in the li- 

 brary of all scientific ornithologists. 



Annotated List of the Birds of Onei- 

 da County, New York and of the West 

 Canada Creek Valley, by Egbert Bagg, 

 March, l!tll. 



This is an excerpt of the transac- 

 tions of the O. H. S. Volume 12, pg. 

 lO-So. This is a very comprehensive 

 treatment of the birds of the territory 

 covered by the list, and is particularly 

 interesting to the editor, because, not 

 only of the thoi'oughness of the paper 

 itself, but also on account of the intro- 

 duction as follows: 



"Twenty-five years ago this winter, 1 

 appeared before you in the rooms con- 

 nected with those of the City Library 

 and read 'An annonated List of Oneida 

 County, N. Y.' which I had prepared 

 from the observations of the late Dr. 

 William L. Ralph and myself. Tonight 



I appeared again to bring that list ui) 

 to date." 



Like the list of the Breeding Birds 

 of Marshall County, Illinois, brought 

 down to date in this issue of The Oolo- 

 gist, Mr. Bagg's list shows the changes 

 wrought by this long number of years, 

 and it is a production of which Mr. 

 Bagg may feel proud. It shows a 

 thorough knowledge and extensive 

 study on the subject treated. 



Lost Birds. 



There seems to be good reason to 

 believe that birds may become bewild- 

 ered by bright lights, storms or fogs, 

 and to completely lose their sense of 

 direction. Last February I was cross- 

 ing the Mediterranean from Algiers, in 

 Africa, to the coast of Southern 

 France. This route goes over the 

 broadest part of the Great Sea. When 

 we were at least 200 miles from land, 

 I found a common bird of P:urope and 

 Africa, the White Wagtail (Montacilla 

 alba) on the boat. How long it had 

 been with us I do not know. It seem- 

 ed tired, but would fly to another part 

 of the steamer when disturbed. It 

 was with us all day and doubtless 

 spent the night with us, and going 

 ashore at Monte Carlo in the morning. 



On our homewart journey we left 

 Gibralter in the early evening of May 

 0th, on the Berlin for New York. The 

 next forenoon, and when 250 miles 

 from the nearest land, I saw on the 

 boat a Yellow Wagtail (Montacilla 

 fiava) and a Short-toed Lark (Calan- 

 drella brachydactyla) while four Tur- 

 tle Doves (Turtur senegalensis) were 

 circling about the steamer, keeping it 

 company but afraid to alight on it. By 

 evening we were 400 miles from land 

 and the birds were all with us. The 

 captain told me that such things were 

 not uncommon, but that they would 

 beat themselves against the lights at 

 night and fall into the ocean. Next 



