442 Recejit Literature. [o^. 



Sawyer's 'Land Birds of Northern New York.' ' — This neat little 

 booklet is another attempt to make easy the task of identifying birds on 

 the part of the beginner. Every author has his own ideas as to how this 

 may best be accomplished, and all meet with a measure of success, although 

 probably none fulfill their expectations. Mr. Sawyer's ability as an 

 artist has enabled him to supplement his brief descriptions by figures of a 

 large number of the species, which aid materially in their identification, 

 although the text paper used by no means does justice to the half-tones. 

 The species are arranged in a number of artificial groups, which unfortu- 

 nately are not mutually exclusive: i. e. ' Brightly Colored Birds '; ' Birds 

 Distinctly Marked'; 'Birds of Robin Size or Larger (not in foregoing 

 groups ).' While the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is placed in the first, and 

 the Bobolink in the second, we should regard one as distinctly marked- as 

 the other, and we surely should hardly expect to find the Wood Thrush 

 in the ' Distinctly Marked ' group, when the Thrasher falls in the ' Robin 

 Size or Larger ' section. The main fault in these artificial schemes is that ' 

 females and immature birds, where they differ from the adult males, are 

 left entirely out of consideration in the grouping. Shortcomings of this 

 sort are however, common to all books of this kind, and are difficult to over- 

 come in a 'pocket guide.' Mr. Sawyer's little book contains much infor- 

 mation in a very compact form and will doul)tless aid many beginners to 

 name the birds about them. — W. S. 



Summer Birds of the Douglas Lake Region, Mich.' — Mr. N. A. 



Wood has compiled an annotated list of 128 species of birds observed in 

 the Douglas Lake region of Michigan which has been published by the 

 LTniversity of Michigan. It is based upon his own observations in 1915, 

 those of Prof. Smith and Dr. Gates in 1911, and a published list by J. S. 

 Compton. An introduction discusses the physical features of the locality 

 and the ecological distribution of the birds. We note Helodromas solitarius 

 cinnamomeus and Colaptes auratus auratus listed without comment, but as 

 Michigan is far out of their range we presume that H. s. solitarius and 

 C. a. luteus are intended, as suggested by the English names. Dryobates 

 pubescens should also probably be D. p. medianus, while the occurrence 

 of two races of Rulfed Grouse together, apparently at the same season, 

 seems open to question. — W. S. 



' Land Birds of Northern New York. A Pocket Guide to Common Land Birds of the 

 St. Lawrence Valley and the Lowlands in General of Northern New York. By Edmund 

 J. Sawyer. Illustrated by the Author. Published under the Auspices of the VVatertown 

 Bird Club. May, 1916. 12ino., pp. 1-90. 1 colored plate and numerous half-tone 

 text figures. A. C. Bogers, 325 Jay St., Watertown, N. Y., paper, 35 cts., cloth 50 cts., 

 postpaid. 



2 The Summer Birds of the Douglas Lake Begion, Cheboygan County, Michigan. By 

 Norman A. Wood, Frank Smith and Frank C. Gates. Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. 

 Mi-h., No. 27. May 15, 1910. 





