104 



THH OOLOGIST 



take the field each year in the United 

 States against the wild animals and 

 birds. How long will they last at this 

 rate? A great many more million bird 

 skins and animal pelts are sold an- 

 nually on the London market than 

 even those best advised have any idea 

 of, and the prices they bring are some- 

 what interesting in some instances. 

 One illustration shows 1600 humming 

 bird skins sold at 2 cents each. We 

 have never examined a stronger, more 

 forcible or more sensible resume of 

 the subject of bird protection than 

 this work. It should be in every pub- 

 lic library and in every school library 

 in the United States. 



Second Report of the Meridian Bird 

 Club, 1912. 



One of the best bird reports that we 

 have seen for a long time, filled from 

 cover to cover with interesting bird 

 information, and illustrated with a 

 lot of good half tones, some of which 

 are particularly interesting; all of 

 which are instructive. 



Containing as it does, two maps, a 

 resume of the financial operations of 

 the club, and a membership list, it is 

 a publication of which this club may 

 well be proud. 



Food of Some Well Known Birds of 

 Forest, Farm and Garden, by F. E. L. 

 Beal and W. L. McAfee. 



This is Farmers Bulletin No. 506 

 of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture issued September 25, 1912. (We 

 are unadvised why it has not reached 

 our desk prior to this time; there 

 must me something wrong with the 

 mailing department at place of issue.) 



This pamphlet of 34 pages, gives the 

 result of food investigation resulting 

 from the examination of nearly five 

 thousand stomachs taken from four 

 species of woodpeckers, two species 



of hummingbirds, three species of fly- 

 catchers, one species of horned lark, 

 one species of junco, two species of 

 sparrow, one of shrike ,two of warb- 

 lers and the ruby-crowned kinglet, and 

 teems with valuable information on 

 the subject treated. 



National Reservations for the Pro- 

 tection of Wild Life, by T. S. Palmer, 

 Assistant Chief, Biological Curvey, De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Bureau of Bi- 

 ological Survey, Circular No. 87. 



This is a historical review of the 

 various bird and game reservations 

 and national parks under the juris- 

 diction of the United States and con- 

 tains also a bibliography of the pub- 

 lications relating to the fauna of na- 

 tional reservations. It is an interest- 

 ing resume of the subject treated. 



Food of Our Important Flycatchers, 



Department of Agriculture, Biological 

 Survey, Bulletin 44, by F. B. L. Beel, 

 Assistant, Biological Survey. 



This is a splendidly prepared paper 

 of sixty-seven pages giving deductions 

 arrived at from the examination of 

 nearly 3400 stomachs and bristles 

 with desirable information from be- 

 ginning to end. It is a splendid paper 

 on the subject. Criticism if any, 

 should be directed to the colored il- 

 lustrations; the one of the Kingbird 

 being more apparently the result of 

 the artist's imaginative and artistic 

 taste than any sketch from nature, 

 and the one of the Arkansas Kingbird 

 being too highly colored on the under 

 parts. And the one of the Crested Fly- 

 catcher being the worst of the lot, the 

 inner webs of the tail feathers not 

 being colored true to nature and neith- 

 er are the throat, neck or under parts. 

 Improvement could be made in this 

 respect in future papers of this char- 

 acter. 



