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The Birds of the Cambridge Region of 

 Massachusetts. By William Brewster. 

 Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological 

 Club, No. IV. Published by the Club, 

 Cambridge, Mass., July, 1906. 4to. 

 426 pp., 4 plates, 3 maps. 



It is fortunate that the portion of North 

 America whose birds have been studied 

 longest and most thoroughly should have 

 for its present-day historian, a writer who, 

 through his natural gifts, training and ex- 

 perience, is ideally prepared to carry the 

 torch borne in turn by Nuttall, Minot, and 

 other early workers. 



Not only is the continuity of the ornitho- 

 logical record, as a whole, not approached 

 by that of any other similarly restricted area 

 in this country, but we believe that no other 

 living American ornithologist has so ex- 

 tended, accurate and intimate a knowledge 

 of the birds of a given locality as has 

 William Brewster of the birds of Cam- 

 bridge. In short, opportunity and the man 

 have here joined forces to produce what, 

 beyond question, is the most interesting and 

 valuable Local List of birds which has 

 been published in this country. 



A table of contents having, doubtless 

 through an oversight, been omitted, we 

 append a summary of the book's chapter 

 and section headings, which, at a glance, 

 will reveal the author's plan of treatment: 



Page 



Preface 3 



Introduction 7 



The Cambridge Region 11 



Old Cambridge and Cambridgeport ii 



Our Garden n 



The Fields Along V assail Lane . . 19 



Gray's Woods 20 



Norton's Woods 20 



Cambridgeport 25 



Back Bay Basin 29 



Charles River Marshes 30 



The Mount Auburn Region ... 33 



Fresh Pond 36 



The Fresh Pond Swamps, or Fresh 



Pond Marshes 42 



The Pine Sivamp and Pout Pond . 45 



( 



The Maple Sivamp 47 



The Brickyard Sivamp 48 



Muskrat Pona 49 



The Glacialis or Artificial . . 49 



Beech Island or Block Island . . 50 



Great Meadow, East Lexington. 51 



Rock Meadow 51 



Beaver Brook Reservation and 



Waverly Oaks 52 



The Wren Orchard 53 



Status of Occurrence 54 



Faunal Changes 61 



Introduction of the House Sparrow 65 

 Early Writers and Ornithologists. 69 

 Annotated List of the Birds of the 



Cambridge Region .... 85 



Additional Notes 397 



Explanation of Plates 399 



Index 401 



Errata 426 



This mere outline indicates the wide 

 scope of the author's plan, which an exami- 

 nation of the subject matter, with its wealth 

 of data and detailed observation, shows has 

 been realized in a manner not only to make 

 the book entertaining reading, but highly 

 satisfactory as a work of reference. 



Although relating primarily to the birds 

 of a small area, so much of the contents of 

 this volume is of more than local interest that 

 we are tempted to quote at length from it. 

 Under 'Faunal Changes, ' the author remarks 

 (p. 61): "Some of the principal changes 

 which have taken place in the fauna of the 

 Cambridge Region during the past thirty or 

 forty years relate to (1) Birds whose local 

 increase may be attributed to changes in 

 local conditions; — as the Bittern, Green 

 Heron, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Redstart 

 and Long-billed Marsh Wren. (2) Birds 

 whose local increase is evidently due to 

 recent local protection; — as the Herring 

 Gull, Black Duck, Whistler and Crow. 

 (3) Birds whose local decrease is apparently 

 due chiefly, if not wholly, to changes in 

 local conditions ; — as the Chimney Swift, 

 Bobolink, Meadowlark, Barn Swallow, 

 Bank Swallow and Pine Warbler. (4) 



17+) 



