Vol. xxr 

 1904 . 



Recetii Literature. S^7 



comparison, and the map of the breeding area here given is an adaptation 

 of Louck's map. "The map of the breeding area is," he says, "also a map 

 showing the path of the spring migration, and also, in all probability, 

 the path bj which the species has found its way to its present breeding 

 area since the Ice Age." He then compares the distribution of Kirtland's 

 Warbler with that of the Prothonotary, presenting a similar map of its 

 migration records, from about the mouth of the Ohio River northward. 

 He finds that the birds on leaving the Bahamas reach Florida and South 

 Carolina during the latter half of April and early part of May, and 

 assumes that they pass west by way of the Pine Barrens to the Missis- 

 sippi ; they occur in the Mississippi and Ohio drainage basins during 

 May, reaching their breeding grounds in Oscoda and Crawford Counties, 

 Michigan, early in June. He is, however, unable to "understand the 

 South Carolina records." As the extreme east and west records are 

 respectively Toronto and Minneapolis, "it suggests that the breeding 

 area may be extensive." He adds a map showing " lines of glacial drain- 

 age or shore lines, to show the relations of those topographic features to 

 bird migration routes." If Kirtland's Warbler was one of the "early spe- 

 cies to push north, it is but natural that it should follow such highways, 

 as it.is along such valleys and shore lines, at that time, that the vegeta- 

 tion would make its most rapid extension northward." The latter part of 

 the paper is thus suggestive, but adds little in the way of positive infor- 

 mation. 



Mr. Wood relates in detail his experiences in pursuit of the breeding 

 place of this warbler, his discovery of its haunts, and the long and care- 

 ful search for its nest, finally rewarded by the discovery of two nests, one 

 of which, found July 8, contained a perfect egg and two young birds 

 about ten days old; the other nest, found July 9, contained five young, 

 also about ten days old. An attempt to rear the young naturally failed. 

 Five adult males and three adult females were taken, in addition to the 

 nests, egg, and seven nestlings. The song and the habits of the birds as 

 observed in their breeding haunts are minutely described, and descrip- 

 tions and half-tone illustrations are given of the &^^ and nests, of the 

 sites where the nests were found, and of the mounted group of these 

 birds now in the Museum of the Universitj' of Michigan, prepared by 

 Mr. Wood from the materials obtained on this expedition. Although 

 preliminary notices of these discoveries have been published, this paper 

 forms the most important contribution thus far made to the history of 

 the species, which is at last removed from the small list of North Ameri- 

 can birds whose nests and eggs and breeding habits still remain un- 

 known. — J. A. A. 



Forbush on the Destruction of Birds by the Elements. ^ — After some 



1 The Destruction of Birds by the Elements in 1903-04. Special Report. 

 By Edward Howe Forbush, Ornithologist to the State Board of Agriculture. 

 Fifty-first Ann. Rep. Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, pp. 457-503. 



