﻿Book Notes and Reviews 



i75 



Birds whose local decrease is probably due 

 chiefly to persecution by the House Spar- 

 row ; — as the Least Flycatcher, Purple Finch , 

 Song Sparrow, Indigo-bird, Tree Swallow, 

 House Wren and Bluebird. (5) Birds 

 whose decrease, and, in a few instances, 

 total disappearance, has been not only local 

 but general throughout New England, and 

 evidently due chiefly or wholly to systematic 

 persecution on the part of man ; — as the 

 Hooded Merganser, Green- winged Teal, 

 Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Wood- 

 cock, Lesser Yellow-legs, Upland Plover, 

 Quail, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Wild 

 Pigeon, Red-tailed Hawk and Great 

 Horned Owl." 



Of certain other birds whose decrease in 

 in the face of an apparently abundant food 

 supply is difficult to understand, it is said: 

 " I have observed — as indeed, who has not! — 

 that few birds — excepting those which, like 

 Swallows, Terns, Herons and Gulls, are 

 accustomed to nest in colonies — tolerate very 

 near neighbors during the season of repro- 

 duction. At its beginning, each pair takes 

 possession of a definite tract of woodland, 

 orchard, swamp or meadow, which the male 

 is ever on the alert to defend against tres- 

 passers of his own kind and sex, although 

 he often seems quite willing to share his 

 domain with birds of other, and perhaps 

 closely related species. ... In my opin- 

 ion the desire for exclusive possession so 

 conspicuously shown by the male, and often 

 by him alone, is usually the result of sexual 

 jealousy. This, as is natural, makes him 

 intolerant, during the breeding season, of 

 the near presence of rival males. If his con- 

 cern were chiefly in respect to the food 

 supply, it would be equally manifested at 

 every season, and towards all birds who 

 subsist on the same food that he and his 

 mate require — which is certainly not the 

 case." 



Of the ever-to-be-regretted introduction 

 of the House Sparrow, it is further said 

 (p. 66) : " It is probable, however, that only 

 those of us who personally remember the 

 conditions which existed before the Sparrows 

 came, and who actually witnessed the 

 changes that accompanied their increase and 

 general dispersion, can realize to the full, 



the disastrous and far-reaching effects which 

 their introduction has had on our native bird 

 population." 



The ' Annotated List ' with ' Additional 

 Notes ' occupy 314 pages, 249 species being 

 enumerated as having been found in the 

 Cambridge region, while the status of 

 others whose occurrence is probable is also 

 often fully given. In addition to the 

 extended information derived from other 

 workers, chiefly members of the Nuttall 

 Club, over forty years' virtually continuous 

 observation and methodic note-keeping, have 

 placed the author in possession of an 

 unequaled amount of data, of which he has 

 evidently made the best of use. The present, 

 and often past, status of each species, the 

 seasons of its occurrence, its nesting dates 

 (if a breeding bird ),■ and much biographical 

 matter are presented in an admirable 

 manner. 



Writing from the fullness of his experience, 

 the author has evidently had to curb rather 

 than force his pen. He never writes above 

 his subject, but, keeping himself well in con- 

 trol, avoids, on the one hand, the stilted 

 iterations of the stereotyped local list, and, 

 on the other, the 'fine writing ' which is 

 generally a confession that we have but 

 little to say, or of inability to say what we 

 want to say. Here, incident, sentiment, 

 pleasing description and statistics are com- 

 bined with rare literary taste and judgment, 

 into a well-rounded whole, and we commend 

 this style of writing to those whose exuber- 

 ant love of nature leads them to describe the 

 simplest field experience in superlatives. 



In brief, so far as its contents are con- 

 cerned, Mr. Brewster's book is, in our 

 opinion, above criticism, a fact which but 

 increases out regret that its usefulness is 

 sadly impaired by its unnecessarily large 

 size — a cumbersome quarto, when we might 

 readily have had a convenient octavo of the 

 same — or even fewer — number of pages. 

 We have spoken of this matter before in 

 reviewing Dr. Townsend's 'Birds of Essex 

 County,' and it is unnecessary to repeat 

 what was said at that time (see Bird-Lore 

 1905, 212). The omission of a Table of 

 Contents we have already mentioned. The 

 index is a marvel of thoroughness and accu- 



