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Bird- Lore 



racy, but when as many as one-hundred page 

 references follow a single heading, we feel 

 that an annotated or explanatory index 

 would have more nearly accomplished the 

 end evidently held in view. — F. M. C. 



The Home Life of Wild Birds: A New 

 Method of the Study and Photography 

 of Birds. By Francis Hobart Herrick. 

 Revised Edition. With 160 original illus- 

 trations from nature by the author. G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons, New York and London. 

 1905. 8vo. xxv -\- 255 pages, numerous 

 half-tones. 



Having reviewed at some length (Bird- 

 Lore, IV, 1902, p. 101) the preceding 

 edition of this important work, we have here 

 only to congratulate its author and publisher 

 on the greatly improved make-up of this re- 

 vised edition, which appears as an octavo 

 instead of a quarto, and to comment chiefly 

 on the changes which have been made in 

 the text. 



Professor Herrick's original work was 

 based mainly on the study of twenty-six 

 nests belonging to fifteen species of birds, 

 but he has now extended his experience to 

 embrace fifty-nine nests, representing thirty 

 species. Much of the earlier work has been 

 rewritten, " forty-eight new illustrations have 

 been added to the text, in place of a smaller 

 number omitted. The first three chapters 

 have been materially changed ; Chapter XI, 

 on ' Nest-Building' is entirely new, as are 

 also, in large measure, those which follow 

 on the ' Development and Care of the 

 Young' and on 'Life and Instinct.'" 



It is evident that the value of the book 

 has been much augmented. Not only has 

 its author had a greater amount of material 

 on which to draw, but, recognizing the evil 

 of certain anthropomorphic tendencies which 

 have recently become more or less pro- 

 nounced in our study of animal life, he 

 addresses an authoritative word of warning 

 to those who would read their own lives into 

 that of the particular bird or beast to which 

 they may devote their attention. 



Wholly aside, therefore, from its interest 

 to bird photographers, this book is of the 

 utmost value to students of the nesting habits 

 of birds, to whom we commend it as the 

 best exposition of the scientific method in 



the observation of the life of the nest with 

 which we are familiar. — F. M. C. 



Bulletin No. 1 of the Vermont Birds' Club. 

 May, 1906. Published annually by the 

 Club, Burlington. 8vo. 22 pages. 



The function of this publication is clearly 

 stated in the following introductory para- 

 graph: "The Vermont Bird Club has been 

 in existence nearly five years. It was formed 

 for the purpose of collecting and preserving 

 information concerning the birds found 

 within our state ; of creating and encourag- 

 ing an interest in birds; of promoting sci- 

 entific investigations and of securing protec- 

 tion of all useful species. Since its organi- 

 zation the feeling has existed among the 

 members that the proceedings of its meetings 

 should be printed, thus giving them tangible 

 and permanent form and allowing those who 

 cannot attend the meetings regularly to keep 

 in closer touch with the work of the Club." 



The present bulletin includes a history of 

 the Club, now in its fifth year, reports of 

 meetings, a 'List of Birds Observed in Rut- 

 land County, Chiefly Between the Years 

 1888 and 1906,' by G. H. Ross; 'Nesting 

 of the Duck Hawk,' by U. A. Kent, and 

 abstracts of papers read at the winter meet- 

 ing. While bibliographers, with reason, 

 deplore the increase of ornithological publi- 

 cations, we believe that there is room for 

 State Club Bulletins of this kind, provided 

 their contents be restricted to news of the 

 activities of the organization they represent, 

 and to papers of local value. Observations 

 or the results of researches having general 

 scientific value should be made accessible to 

 a larger public. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The August number of 

 ' The Condor ' comprises four articles which 

 are of rather less general interest than usual. 

 Finley's paper on ' The Barn Owl and its 

 Economic Value ' is illustrated by six half- 

 tones of photographs taken by Bohlman. 

 ' The Percentage of Error in Bird Migra- 

 tion Records ' is discussed by Stone, who 

 summarizes the results of a study of a series 

 of local records, kept by observers near 

 Philadelphia. He reaches the conclusion 



