44 



Bird - Lore 



a map and five halftones. Unfortunately, 

 the species are not arranged according to 

 the check list, which makes it difl&cult to 

 find some of the notes, and puts the English 

 Sparrow at the end of the list in the 

 anomalous position of appearing as the 

 highest type of bird found in Monterey 

 County. It is always a mistake to depart 

 from the accepted sequence of species in a 

 local list, in order to show relationship, 

 when classification forms no part of the 

 subject of the paper. 



Among the shorter notes is a brief but 

 interesting account of 'Bird Study Out- 

 of-doors in European Schools,' which 

 claims that nature-study field excursions 

 in Europe are far in advance of those in 

 America. In an open letter, W. Leon 

 Dawson outlines the principles on which 

 he believes permits should be issued for 

 collecting birds and eggs for scientific 

 purposes. — T. S. P. 



The Oriole — 'The Oriole' for August, 

 1 91 5, is the second and concluding number 

 of this volume of the Somerset Hills Bird 

 Club of Bernardsville, New Jersey. It con- 

 tains articles on 'Color' and 'A Glimpse of 

 Egyptian Bird-Life,' by C. William Beebe, 

 'Some Notes from Morristown, N. J.,' by 

 Maunsell Schieffelin Crosby, 'Birds of a 

 Garden in Columbia, S. C.,' by Belle 

 Williams, and a number of 'Decoration 

 Day Censuses' from northern New Jersey. 

 The average number of species given in 

 eight censuses is fifty-seven, the largest, 

 seventy-two, this being the number ob- 

 served by Charles H. Rogers, on May 31, 

 from 5.20 A.M. to 9.05 P.M., in the region 

 about Plainfield. The Editor, Mr. John 

 Dryden Kuser, writes at length on the 

 ethics of bird protection. He admits the 

 right of the sportsman to kill birds for 

 pleasure under "a reasonable regulation 

 of killing, so that it may be kept down to a 

 basis where the game continues to be pre- 

 served and is not decreased," but deplores 

 the collecting of birds by amateurs for 

 preservation and study. But has not the 

 student equal rights with the sportsman 

 and, pleasure aside, is it not more defen- 

 sible to shoot a bird for the cabinet than 



for the table? Furthermore, since the 

 student takes his toll from the entire 

 avifauna rather than a very limited part 

 of it, and his wants, once filled, are not 

 recurrent with the opening of every shoot- 

 ing season, why is he not less destructive 

 than the sportsman ? We know of no in- 

 stance in this country where the numbers 

 of a species have been appreciably affected 

 by purely amateur collecting; and where 

 such collecting is done with a definite end 

 in view, and not merely for the purpose of 

 acquisition, it should be permitted by law 

 Indiscriminate collecting should be dis- 

 couraged, not so much because of the birds 

 taken, — they will be preserved, not des- 

 troyed, — but because, in the greater part 

 of our country, it is a waste of time on the 

 part of the collector. He can employ his 

 opportunities for field work to much better 

 advantage in studying birds rather than 

 in shooting them. — F. M. C. 



Book News 



The Smithsonian Institution has paid 

 Mr. Fuertes a well-deserved compliment in 

 asking permission to republish his series of 

 'Impressions of the Voices of Tropical Birds' 

 which appeared in Bird-Lore for 1914. 



'The Giiide to Nature' has established 

 a department of Ornithology, under the 

 editorship of Harry G. Higbee, which adds 

 materially to the value of that well-con- 

 ducted magazine. 



The Proceedings of the Colorado 

 Museum of Natural History (Denver), 

 published under date of December 6, 1915, 

 a twelve-page list of 'The Birds of Yuma 

 County, Colorado,' by F. C. Lincoln. It 

 enumerates 160 species, and is briefly 

 annotated with reference to their compara- 

 tive numbers and times of occurrence. 



In the 'Sixteenth Report of the Michi- 

 gan Academy of Sciences' (pp. 74-91), 

 Frederick M. Gaige publishes an anno- 

 tated list of eighty-eight species of birds 

 observed in Dickinson County, Michi- 

 gan, during the summer of 1909. It is 

 prefaced by a description of the 'Habitats 

 and Habitat Distribution of the Species,' 

 and contains much information of value 

 to the Zoogeographer. 



