° • J From Magazines, &c. 1 Vn 



biography of a Crow, under the title of " King Cole " ; the usual 

 notes on the proceedings of Audubon Societies and their valuable 

 work ; Educational Leaflet No. ii, dealing with the Screech Owl 

 (by Mr. William Dutcher), &c. That the President of the United 

 States takes a warm interest in our work is shown by the following 

 passages from a letter to the editor of Bird-Lore : — " I would like 

 to see all harmless wild things, but especially all birds, pro- 

 tected in every way. I do not understand how any man or woman 

 who really loves Nature can fail to try to exert all influence in 

 support of such objects as those of the Audubon Society. . 

 Half, and more than half, of the beauty of the woods and fields 

 is gone when they lose the harmless wild things. ... As for 

 the birds, which are the especial objects of the preservation of 

 your society, we should keep them as we do trees." 



" Some New Facts About the Migration of Birds " is the 

 title of an article in a year-book issued by the Department of Agri- 

 culture, U.S.A., and written by Mr. Wells W. Cooke, assistant. 

 Biological Survey. A reprint has been forwarded by the department. 

 Mr. Cooke deals with the subject in a masterful way, holding that 

 as to causes of migration the broad statement can be made that 

 the beginnings of migration ages ago were intimately connected 

 with periodic changes in the food supply, but this motive is at 

 present so intermingled with others unknown, or but imperfectly 

 known, that migration movements seem now to bear little relation 

 to the abundance or absence of food. How do birds find their 

 way, casualties during migration, its distance and routes, the 

 question whether birds are exhausted after a long flight, and 

 whether variations of temperature affect their movements, and 

 the speed maintained during the passage from one zone to another, 

 are dealt with. Unfortunately, so far as Australian observers are 

 concerned, nearly all the birds dealt with are American species, 

 but as the same problems exist almost all over the world, it is to 

 be hoped that some day, partly by aid of the schedules which the 

 Aust. O.U. has issued in connection with the matter, a similarly 

 valuable brochure may issue from this side of the world. Two 

 valuable maps are given — one as to route, the other showing speed of 

 flight. 



* * * 



Modern Egg-Collecting. — This subject has been attracting 

 some attention in the pages of recent numbers of The Zoologist. 

 The November (1904) issue has some hints from the pen of Mr. 

 J. H. Salter, of the University College, Aber3/stwyth, which might 

 be pondered over by even Australian collectors. After stating 

 something of the ruin which the modern system of egg-collecting 

 is bringing to the rarer native species in Britain, he writes : — 

 " Posterity will probably condemn altogether the practice of making 

 private collections of eggs, especially those in which it is sought 

 to illustrate every possible variety of colouration by means of a large 



