Jloofe jBtetos and ^^cijietns 



Two Bird-Lovers in Mexico. By C. " 

 William Beebe. Illustrated with photo- 

 graphs from life taken by the author. 

 Boston and New York. Houghton, 

 Mifflin Sc Co. i2mo. xiii+408 pages, 

 106 half-tones. Price, $3 net. 



Mr. and Mrs. Beebe went to Mexico, not 

 to collect but to study birds, and the results 

 of their three months' observations are pre- 

 sented in this attractive volume. Beginning 

 at Guadalajara, they worked thence to 

 the coast, thus encountering widely varying 

 climatic and physiographic conditions, with 

 corresponding diversity in bird-life. A 

 camping outfit not only enabled them to 

 make their home where they pleased, but to 

 pass twenty-four hours of each day in the 

 field ; and every camper knows how much 

 more intimate relations can be established 

 with one's surroundings under conditions of 

 this kind than when one lives in even a 

 favorably situated house. 



Without enforced duties of trapping and 

 shooting, or specimens to prepare, Mr. 

 Beebe could devote his entire time to ob- 

 serving and recording; and the outcome of 

 his labors, as they are here presented, im- 

 pels comparison with the briefly 'An- 

 notated List' which so frequently forms the 

 only published evidence of months of honest 

 endeavor. The comparison, indeed, may 

 be made in the volume before us, for Mr. 

 Beebe gives an annonated 'List of Birds Ob- 

 served' in an appendix, and we may count 

 most of 374 pages which precede it as due 

 to the employment of the observers', rather 

 than the collectors' methods. Some day, 

 perhaps, when facts are valued as highly as 

 'skins,' we may send expeditions into the 

 field solely for the purpose of securing 

 information in regard to the habits of the 

 animals whose bodily remains now tax our 

 storage facilities. 



Mr. Beebe had an eye not only for birds 

 but for mammals, reptiles and insects as 

 well, while his enthusiastic admiration of 

 the remarkable scenery one finds in Mexico 

 and his interest in the Mexicans themselves 



find expression in well-worded descriptions. 

 His book, therefore, possesses a literary 

 charm which will add greatly to its scien- 

 tific value, for it will both entertain and 

 instruct. The excellent photographs by 

 which it is embellished will also aid the 

 fulfilment of this desirable end. — F. M. C. 



The Bob-white and Other Quails of the 

 United States in Their Economic 

 Relations. By Sylvester D. Judd, 

 Ass't Biological Survey. Bull. No. 21. 

 Bureau Biological Survey, Washington, 

 1905. 



This is, in the best sense, an economic 

 paper. Based on broad lines, both in 

 research and in conclusion, it shows the 

 Bob- white's value as a destroyer of weed seeds 

 and noxious insects and as a game-bird in 

 whose pursuit hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars are annually expended, a large pro- 

 portion of which goes to the owner of the 

 land on which Bob-white is found. Living 

 or dead, therefore. Bob-white is a valuable 

 asset, and the problem of maintaining the 

 supply of birds in the face of a constantly 

 increasing demand is worthy of the most 

 serious consideration. That it can be done, 

 with favorable climatic conditions, is beyond 

 question. Short shooting-seasons, strict 

 enforcement of the game-laws, prevention 

 of trapping, prohibition of sale as game, 

 and winter feeding will go far toward keep- 

 ing the numbers of this prolific bird from 

 decreasing; and we know of no better 

 means to inaugurate a general movement 

 toward this end than to distribute widely 

 this admirable publication, whicli treats not 

 only of Bob-white but of our six other 

 species of Quails 



The appearance of this work so shortly 

 before the unspeakably sad end of its tal- 

 ented young author makes doubly keen our 

 regret at the loss of an investigator whose 

 accomplishments had won him high rank 

 among the real naturalists of this coun- 

 try. It will be difficult to fill his place.— 

 F.M. C. 



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