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Bird- Lore 



Additional Data to a Preliminary List of 

 the Land Birds of Southeastern Michigan, 'by 

 Bradshaw H. Swales; 'Some Breeding Rec- 

 ords from East Point, Georgia,' by William 

 J. Mills; 'A Preliminary list of the Birds of 

 Summit, New Jersey,' by H. H. Hann, in 

 which 149 species are briefly annotated. 



In 'Ornithology a Science,' P. A. Taver- 

 ner presents an ornithologist's reply to the 

 query, 'Why should we study birds?' and in 

 'Priority' the same writer makes a some- 

 what illogical protest against the applica- 

 tion of the ' Law of Priority ' in zoological 

 nomenclature. It is our misfortune to live 

 at a time of the greatest effort to place the 

 names of birds on a consistent nomenclatural 

 basis. Did not the spirit of the age pro- 

 hibit tolerance of error, we might bequeath, 

 with additions, our inherited weight of 

 nomenclatural sins to those who come after 

 us, and earn a curse where we may hope for 

 a blessing. 



Under 'Special Investigations for 1906' 

 the editor outlines a plan for a study of 

 breeding habits, which, if bird-students 

 were as numerous as bird-lovers, might yield 

 valuable returns; 'General Notes,' and 

 ' Notices of Recent Literature ' conclude the 

 number.— F. M. C. 



The Warbler. — The fourth and con- 

 cluding number of the first volume of the 

 second series of this magazine was published 

 October 31, 1905. It contains colored plates 

 of the eggs of the Carolina Paroquet, laid 

 by captive birds in the possession of Robert 

 Ridgway, and of the egg of Clarke's Crow. 

 The text includes the fourth and last instal- 

 ment of the editor's ' Birds Breeding Within 

 the Limits of the City of New York.' A 

 prefatory note stating that only those species 

 have been treated which have come under 

 the author's" personal observation" explains 

 the omission from this list of some forty 

 species which doubtless nest within the 

 limits specified. The editor also contri- 

 butes ' Birds Observed at Rangeley Lakes, 

 Maine, June 9 to 15, 1905,' which, with the 

 New York City list, would be more useful 

 for reference if the species were systemati- 

 cally arranged, and ' Long Island Bird 

 Notes.' R. D. Hoyt presents some interest- 

 ing observations on the ' Nesting of Ward's 



Heron ' in Florida; P. B. Peabody writes at 

 length on 'The Long-tailed Chickadee,' 

 and A. T. Wayne more briefly on the 

 'White-eyed Towhee,' which he thinks 

 "should be accorded full specific rank." — 

 F. M. C. 



Book News 



Students of the habits of birds will do 

 well to read Prof. Francis H. Herrick's 

 ' Life and Instinct' (reprinted from West- 

 ern Reserve University Bulletin, Vol. VIII, 

 No. 3, May, 1905), in which a trained ani- 

 mal psychologist discusses various matters 

 in relation to the habits of animals about 

 which there has been much divergence of 

 opinion among writers less qualified to 

 speak with authority. 



A list of birds collected in southern Sin- 

 aloa, Mexico, by J. H. Battey, during 

 1903-1904, by Waldron DeWitt Miller, 

 (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XXI, 1905, 

 PP- 3 39 — 369) enumerates 160 species and 

 subspecies, two of which, Amazona albi- 

 frons nana and Amizilis beryllina -viola, 

 are described as new. 



The proceedings of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences I 1905, pages 

 680-690) contains a list, by Witmer Stone, 

 of birds collected as observed by S N. 

 Rhoads, in the Colorado Delta, Lower 

 California, in February, 1905. 



Collections of birds made by W. W. 

 Brown, Jr., on the Pearl Islands of Panama 

 Bay and on the Savanna of Panama are re- 

 ported on by John £. Thayer and Outram 

 Banzo in the Bull, of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, Vol. XLVI, 1905, pages 

 141-160; and Vol. XLVI, 1906, pages 213- 

 224, respectively. 



Bulletin No. 20 of the New York Zoo- 

 logical Society, a 'Pheasants Aviary Num- 

 ber,' announces the completion and filling 

 of the Pheasant Aviary in the New York 

 Zoological Park, "the sixth great install- 

 ment of birds thrown open to the public." 



The New Orleans 'Picayune' of December 

 31, 1905, contains a glowing description of 

 the islands off the coast of Louisiana which 

 through the efforts of the Louisiana Audubon 

 Society have been set aside as a bird reser- 

 vation. 



