﻿70 



Bird- Lore 



"6. Please state the facts and arguments, 

 pro or con, which decide this problem in 

 your own mind. 



" Everybody interested is requested to send 

 in replies to the above questions before June 

 i, if possible, to the undersigned. It is 

 proposed to gather a consensus of opinion 

 from all parts of this country and Canada. 

 The data will be made public as soon as 

 possible. (Signed) A. H. Estabrook, 



March 5, 1906. Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard, of West Newton, 

 Mass., announces the publication, in ten 

 parts, two of which will be issued each 

 month, of a ' Directory of Birds of Eastern 

 North America.' Mr. Maynard remarks, 

 in the recently issued prospectus of this 

 work : 



"Of late years many books have been 

 written with a view of aiding those who are 

 beginning the study of birds. While some 

 of these books are by trained ornithologists, 

 hence accurate and helpful to students, many 

 others have been written by amateurs, who 

 are sometimes themselves mere tyros, hence 

 more or less inaccurate. Some of these last- 

 mentioned books are evidently compilations 

 in which we find subtle truths and obvious 

 errors strangely mingled. In others, the 

 authors give condensed descriptions, at 

 times with success, but we often note errors 

 of commission and omission. In other 

 words, the authors, through lack of a thor- 

 ough knowledge of their subject, have, in 

 many cases, mistaken individual peculiar- 

 ities and unusual plumages for specific 

 characters, and in other cases have given 

 unimportant characters in place of those 

 which are important and which should have 

 been given. 



"It is unfortunate that the work of com- 

 pilation and abridgement in ornithology has 

 so often fallen into the hands of incompe- 

 tent amateurs, when both should be done, 

 to be done successfully (as any one can see 

 upon reflection), by experienced experts, 

 but who, as a rule, avoid work of this 

 kind." 



The report of the Chief of the Bureau 

 of Biological Survey for the year ending 



June 30, 1905, reflects the increasing im- 

 portance and widening scope of the activi- 

 ties of this Bureau. The work of the year 

 is summarized under " ( i ) investigations 

 relating to the geographic distribution of 

 animals and plants, including biological 

 surveys and the determination of the life 

 and crop belt, in charge of the chief; (2) 

 investigations of the economic relations 

 of birds to agriculture, in charge of Prof. 

 F. E. L. Beal ; (3) investigations of the 

 economic relations of mammals to agricul- 

 ture, in charge of Prof. D. E. Lantz ; (4) 

 supervision of matters relating to game 

 preservation and protection and the impor- 

 tation of foreign birds and animals, in 

 charge of Dr. T. S. Palmer." 



A report on the ' Ornithological Results 

 of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedi- 

 tion,' by Wm. Eagle Clarke (The Ibis, 

 Part I, 1905, 247-268 ; The Ibis, Part II, 

 1906, 145-187) contains biographical mat- 

 ter of the first importance and is illustrated 

 with some of the best photographs of Ant- 

 arctic birds we have ever seen. 



Wilson's Petrel was found nesting "in 

 thousands" on Laurie Island. This bird 

 "did not appear until late in the fall, 

 namely, on November 11." The first egg 

 was taken December n. 



Mr. Herbert K. Job, so well known 

 for his admirable photographic studies of 

 birds, is engaged in preparing a book on 

 the birds of Litchfield county, Connecticut, 

 and requests the cooperation of all who are 

 interested. Mr. Job's address is Kent, 

 Conn. 



Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill issues, without 

 place of publication, an unpaged, undated 

 pamphlet entitled, 'Addition to the Avifauna 

 of Dominica. Notes on species hitherto 

 unrecorded, with descriptions of three new 

 species and a list of all birds now known to 

 occur on the Island.' One of the new 

 species is described as Setophaga ruticilla 

 tropica, Tropical Redstart. It is apparently 

 based on highly colored specimens of our 

 American Redstart. 



