Publications Reviewed. 201 



Publications Reviewed 



A History of the Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds oi: 

 Massachusetts and adjacent states including those used for food 

 which have dis'appeared since the settlement of the country, and 

 those which are now hunted for food or sport, with observations 

 on their former abundance and recent decrease in numbers ; also 

 the means for conserving those still in existence. By Edward 

 Howe Forbush, State Ornithologist of Massachusetts. Illustrated 

 with Drawings by W. I. Beechcroft and the Author, and Photo- 

 graphs by Herbert K. Job and Others. Issued by the Massachu- 

 setts State Board of Agriculture. By Authority of the Legisla- 

 ture, 1912. 



"This volume is intended to fill a place heretofore unfultilled, in 

 at leas-t two respects, by any American worli. The former abun- 

 dance and later decrease of the migratory game birds of eastern 

 North America have been studied and narrated at length for the 

 first time, and the histories of the food species of New England 

 which have been exterminated since the settlement of the country 

 have been brought together. This has been done with a purpose. 



"Whenever legislation for the protection of shore birds or wild- 

 fowl has been attempted in the Maritime States of the Atlantic 

 seaboard, certain interested individuals have come forward to op- 

 pose it, with the plea that these birds are not decreasing in num- 

 bers, but, instead, are increasing, and that they need no further 

 protection. Some admit tiiat certain species are decreasing, but 

 argue that shooting is not responsible for this condition. 



"The object of the investigation on which this volume is based 

 was to secure information from historical and ornithological works, 

 and from ornithologists, sportsmen and gunners, regarding the in- 

 crease or decrease of the birds which are hunted for food or sport. 



"The report is published with the intention, first, to show the 

 former abundance of resident and migratory game birds in 

 America and their subsequent decrease in numbers ; second, to fur- 

 nish gunners and others with the means of identifying game birds, 

 that the people may recognize the different species and thus fit 

 themselves to observe protective laws ; and third, to demonstrate 

 how the birds may be conserved. 



"In the introduction an attempt is made to narrate briefly the 

 history of the decrease of resident and migratory game birds along 

 the Atlantic seaboard. Part I continues this history, but particu- 

 larizes and localizes by taking up separately each individual spe- 

 cies that has been recoi'ded from Massachusetts and nearby states. 

 Part II groups together t!;e hi-tories of the species utilized as 



