Vol. XVII 
1900 
Feecent Literature. 3 ible 
Jones on Warblers’ Songs.'— Nearly six years ago Mr. Jones requested 
the members of the Wilson Ornithological Chapter of the Agassiz Asso- 
ciation to begin a critical study of the songs of Warblers, and the results 
of their observations in connection with his own notes, covering a period 
of fifteen years, and all available published material on the songs of these 
birds are brought together in this useful and suggestive paper. 
Before proceeding to a detailed treatment of the song of each species 
Mr. Jones discusses the development of the Warblers’ song-type, the 
diurnal and seasonal song periods, the kinds of song, and variability in 
song. Many Warblers possess two kinds of song, which Mr. Jones desig- 
nates as Call Songs and Passion Songs. The former is the ‘every day’ 
song of the species, which we are glad to see Mr. Jones does not consider 
as addressed especially to the female, but as an announcement of the 
bird’s presence, a challenge, or reply to a rival, and, to our mind, chiefly 
as an irrepressible expression of the intense physiological vigor of the 
season, when it becomes the ‘‘ passion song,” which in response to 
extreme emotion carries the singer off its feet into the air ‘on quivering 
wings to pour out its melody without pause until the inspiration has 
passed.” 
With others who have attempted to describe birds’ songs, Mr. Jones 
appreciates the difficulty of their adequate presentation. With most 
Warblers, especially the Dendroicas, this is particularly true. Musical 
annotation is of little service; and syllabification can, at the best, give 
but a vague idea of the original. However, careful descriptions may help 
us to identify the song, after we have heard it, and Mr. Jones’s paper is 
therefore of value to field students, who uniformly find Warblers the most 
difficult of our land-birds to identify. 
A ‘Field Key to the Spring Male’ Warblers of North America concludes 
this excellent piece of work. —F. M. C. 
Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union.? The Nebraska 
Ornithologists’ Union was organized at Lincoln, Nebr., on Dec. 16, 
1899, with the following officers: Prof. Lawrence Bruner, President; 
I. S. Frostler, Vice-President, Dr. R. H. Wolcott, Recording Secretary ; 
W. D. Hunter, Corresponding Secretary. The papers read at the first 
meeting are now presented in an octavo pamphlet of some forty pages 
and include the President’s address, ‘ Ornithology in Nebraska,’ in which 
! The Songs of Warblers (Mniotiltide). By Lynde Jones, M.S., Instructor 
in Zo6logy, Laboratory Bulletin No. 10, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, March 
20, 1900. Also issued as Wilson Bulletin No. 30. 8vo, pp. 56. 
2 Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union at its First Annual 
meeting, Lincoln, Nebr., Dec. 6, 1899. Edited by Robt. H. Wolcott. 8vo, 
PP- 44, I pl. 
