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Bird -Lore 



on the 'Physiography of Porto Rico' and 

 its 'Bird-Life,' 'Methods of Increasing 

 Birds,' 'Introduction of Birds' and an 

 Annotated List of Species (pp. 17-129). 

 In this list we have a thorough treatment 

 of the status of the 162 species known from 

 the area under consideration with remarks 

 on their habits and as detailed a statement 

 of their food as the data obtained warrants. 

 The whole forms a most satisfactory 

 memoir on Porto Rican bird-life and a 

 unique contribution to our knowledge of 

 the food-habits of tropical birds. A colored 

 frontispiece and five full-page half-tones 

 of Porto Rican birds, by Fuertes, add to 

 the value of this publication. — F. M. C. 



Our Dooryard Friends. By Sara V. 

 Prueser. The Platform, Steinway Hall, 

 Chicago, 1915. i2mo, 204 pages, 2 

 colored plates, 36 half-tones, 1 7 line-cuts. 



Brand Whitlock, who writes an intro- 

 duction to this little volume, confesses 

 that in reading it he has been reproached 

 by an ignorance of his own land; by a 

 failure to realize "that there was so much 

 of interest going on in it as Miss Prueser 

 has discovered within a few yards of her 

 own door." How often the nature-lover 

 hears this same thought expressed by those 

 who envy him the obvious resources he 

 has discovered in the world immediately 

 around him! 



This invaluable knowledge of the ani- 

 mate forms about us cannot be acquired 

 in a day. It grows with us, becomes part 

 of us, and retains its power to add to the 

 pleasure and sweetness of life long after 

 our interest in more material things has 

 vanished. Books like Miss Prueser's 

 dealing with the birds of our dooryards 

 are well designed to open the gate which 

 may lead to the larger joys of the fields 

 and forests lying beyond. She writes of 

 the Chickadees, Nuthatches, and 'Down- 

 ies,' Blue Jays, Phoebes, and Cardinals 

 and other birds which meet us more than 

 half-way when we extend the hand of 

 friendship to the inhabitants of the feath- 

 ered world and make us realize how 

 much more they can add to our lives than 

 we can to theirs. — F. M. C. 



The Bird Poems of Miles A. Davis. 

 Published by John White Johnston, 

 Rochester, N. Y. Printed by the Roy- 

 crofters, East Aurora, N. Y., 1916. 

 i6mo, 37 pages. 



In this dainty booklet Mr. Davis pays 

 his tribute in verse to the charms of bird- 

 life. The Robin, the Bluebird, the Oriole, 

 the Bobolink, and other familiar birds of 

 garden and meadow arouse within him a 

 poet's appreciation of their beauty of form 

 and song; while the Wild Goose and 

 Stormy Petrel stir his muse to eloquent 

 expression of their mastery of the air or 

 wide spaces of the sea. 



Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson writes a sym- 

 pathetic introduction to this collection of 

 poems, which will, we are sure, find favor 

 with all nature-lovers. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — In the April issue no less 

 than three writers touch on Audubon and 

 his work: Mr. J. E. Thayer under the title 

 'Auduboniana' presents to our notice four 

 half-tones of original water-color draw- 

 ings, with a couple of letters written in 

 1841; Mr. G. B. Grinnell also presents a 

 couple of letters written in 1833, and Mr. 

 S. N. Rhoads throws 'More Light on Audu- 

 bon's Folio, Birds of America.' 



Dr. W. M. Tyler takes up a neglected 

 phase of bird-migration and writes on 

 'The Call-notes of Some Nocturnal Migra- 

 ting Birds,' but there is hardly the mystery 

 about the notes that he implies, for none 

 of them are essentially other than those 

 that may be heard by day. The striking 

 call of the Olive-backed Thrush, for in- 

 stance, may be commonly heard in the 

 summer months on the northern breeding- 

 grounds of the species. 



The title 'Bird Watching and Biological 

 Science' by Mr. J. S. Huxley, is a contri- 

 bution to what might be called psycholog- 

 ical ornithology. It is easy to become im- 

 bued with modern ideas, and there is a 

 tendency among writers on this subject to 

 think along in print rather than to present 

 clear-cut conclusions. A molehill of fact 

 is often made to produce a mountain of 

 theory, and facts as stated by amateurs 



