1 88 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



In the House : By Mr. Reeder : A bill 

 (H. R. 14374) to amend the act pro- 

 viding for national irrigation, approved 

 June 17, 1902. 



March 24. 



In the Senate : Mr. Fulton, from the 

 Committee on Public Lands, reported 

 favorably the bill (S. 4622) amending 

 section 2305 of the Revised Statutes, 

 which was passed. 



This bill extends the rights of a sol- 

 dier or marine so as to give him credit 

 for the time passed in military service in 

 taking up an additional quantity of land 

 to complete his homestead entry. 



Mr. Cockrell introduced a bill (S. 

 5231) to amend the act entitled "An act 

 appropriating the receipts from the sale 

 and disposal of public lands in certain 

 states and territories to the construction 

 of irrigation works for the reclamation 

 of arid lands." 



March 25. 



In the House: By Mr. Daniels: A bill 

 (H. R. 14417) to provide for the appro- 



priation of the waters of the Colorado 

 River for irrigation purposes. 



March 30. 



In the Senate: Mr. Nelson, from the 

 Committee on Public Lands, reported 

 without amendment the bill (S. 4401)10 

 grant to the State of Minnesota certain 

 lands for forestry purposes. 



Mr. Clark, of Wyoming, introduced 

 a bill (S. 5319) providing for right of 

 way for irrigation and other purposes 

 upon the public lands and reservations. 



March 3J. 



The joint committee of the two Houses 

 appointed to arrange the existing dis- 

 agreement upon the various appropria- 

 tions for the Department of Agriculture 

 submitted a report with recommenda- 

 tions. 



By one of these recommendations, 

 all of which were agreed to, the appro- 

 priation for the Bureau of Forestry was 

 reduced from the figure allowed by the 

 Senate ($450,140) to $425,140. 



RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 



Key to North American Birds: Containing a 

 Concise Account of Every Species of Liv- 

 ing and Fossil Bird at Present Known, 

 from the Continent North of the Mexican 

 and United States Boundary, Inclusive of 

 Greenland and Lower California. By EL- 

 UOTT COUES, A. M., M D., Ph D. Fifth 

 edition Illustrated. Dana, Estes & Co., 

 Br-ston. 



There has recently been issued, in response 

 to a very general demand among ornitholo- 

 gists, this fifth edition of the scientific master- 

 piece of the late Dr. Coues. In the nature of 

 things, such a work can never be complete in 

 every essential detail, for the ways of birds 

 are, to a certain extent, past finding out. Dr. 

 Coues himself supervised the issue of four edi- 

 tions of his great work, finding with the ex- 

 haustion of each print something to add to his 

 previous writings on the vast subject. In his 

 preface to the fourth edition, issued in 1887, 

 he noted that the fruits of the " unparalleled 

 activity" of the great numbers of workers 

 then in the field were not sufficiently sound 

 and ripe to warrant a recast of the "Key." 

 He died in December, 1899, leaving the manu- 

 script for this fifth edition finished, but in 



such shape as to offer serious difficulties in 

 the publication, lacking his supervision. The 

 services of Mr J. A. Farley were secured, and 

 he has completed the task in a manner which 

 the publishers believe would have been Dr. 

 Cones' exact idea of a presentation of this 

 crowning work of his life. 



The work as thus prepared comprises two 

 large volumes, with profuse, well-prepared 

 illustrations. Mr. Fuertes' drawings, two be- 

 ing in color, add richly to the edition. It is 

 appropriate that this great work, serving in its 

 latest form as a monument to the scientist 

 whose activities were so varied and so unre- 

 mitting, should contain a memorial to him in 

 fitting terms. This is supplied in the form of 

 the address delivered November 13, 1900, at 

 the eighteenth congress of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union, Cambridge, Mass., by Prof. 

 D. G Elliot, who wrote from the viewpoint of 

 one who had known Dr. Coues for nearly forty 

 years most intimately, both as a scientist and 

 as a man. Thus the work stands complete, a 

 boon to bird-lovers and a gratification to those 

 who were privileged to come within the circle 

 of Dr. Coues' acquaintance, either personally 

 or professionally. 



