Book News and Reviews 



285 



berg, and Dr. Rudolf Blasius and Dr. 

 Wilhelm Blasius, of Brunswick. — T. S. P. 



Book News 



The Massachusetts Audubon Society 

 announces the publication of a new Audu- 

 bon Calendar for 1906. The calendar con- 

 sists of six new plates of American War- 

 blers, printed in Japan in the best style o' 

 Japanese color-printing, from blocks made 

 expressly for this purpose, and tastefully 

 mounted on cards 9^ x 14^ inches, with 

 descriptive text on back. These are be- 

 lieved to be the first Japanese reproductions 

 of American birds ever made, and they have 

 the artistic distinction that belongs to the 

 finest Japanese workmanship. The birds 

 represented are the Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler, Canadian Warbler, Yellow- 

 throat, Oven-bird, Black-poll Warbler and 

 Myrtle Warbler. Price, $1 .50, net, postpaid. 



Orders should be sent at once, as the edi- 

 tion is small. 



In 'Science' for September i, 1905, 

 W. E. D. Scott states his belief in the 

 origin by mutation of certain North Ameri- 

 can birds of doubtful status. Mr. Scott's 

 argument centers chiefly about Brewster's 

 and Lawrence's Warblers, which he regards 

 as mutants ; but in a succeeding number of 

 'Science,' Dr. J. A. Allen questions Mr. 

 Scott's conclusions and supports the gener- 

 ally accepted theory of hybridity and 

 dichromatism as accounting for these puz- 

 zling forms. 



' Farmers' Bulletin ' No. 230, of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, is 

 entitled ' Game Laws for 1905. A summary 

 of the provisions relating to seasons, ship- 

 ment, sale and licenses.' This useful docu- 

 ment was prepared by T. S. Palmer, Henry 

 Oldys and R. W. Williams, Jr. 



The report for 1904 of the Director of the 

 Bernice Pauahi Museum of Honolulu, con- 

 tains ' Notes on the Birdsof Waianae Moun- 

 tains,' ' Notes on the American Birds Col- 

 lected in the Hawaiian Islands by Mr. Gerrit 

 Wilder,' and several papers describing the 

 nests and eggs of Hawaiian birds, all by 

 Wm. Alanson Brvan. 



Publication No. 25 of the Bureau of Gov- 

 ernment Laboratories (Manila, P. I., 1905), 

 by Richard C. McGregor, contains a paper 

 on ' Birds from the Islands of Ramblon, 

 Sibuyan and Cresta de Galio,' and ' Further 

 Notes on Birds from Ticao, Cuyo, Culion, 

 Calayan, Lubang and Luzon.' Several new 

 species are described, and there are interest- 

 ing observations on the nesting habits of the 

 Panay Hornbill (Penelopides panini } and 

 Linch's and Whitehead's Swifts f Salangana 

 linchi and S. iMhiteheadi), with photographs 

 of nests and eggs. 



In ' The Birds of the Genus Cinctus and 

 Their Geographical Distribution' (Smith- 

 sonian Miscell. Coil. Vol. XLVII, Part 4), 

 Dr. Stejneger concludes that these birds of 

 marked form and habit originated in "that 

 enormous and ancient plateau and mountain 

 region north of India, and east of 90° 

 east longitude, whence they have radiated 

 wherever high enough mountain ranges, or 

 otherwise boreal conditions, permitted them 

 to push forward their colonies." The paper 

 is a suggestive contribution to philosophic 

 zoogeography. 



' The Ostriches and Their Allies,' by C. 

 William Beebe * Ninth Annual Report of 

 the New York Zoological Society), gives a 

 general account of the Apteryx, Emu, 

 Cassowary, Rhea and Ostrich, and discusses 

 their 'External Structural Adaptations to 

 Cursorial Habits.' 



An unusually large collection of the nests 

 and eggs of South American birds is de- 

 scribed by Dr. J. A. Allen in ' Supplemen- 

 tary Notes on Birds Collected in the Santa 

 Marta District, Columbia, by Herbert H. 

 Smith, with Descriptions of Nests and Eggs' 

 I Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xxi, pages 

 275-295^- 



Vernon Bailey (' Birds Known to Eat the 

 Boll- Weevil,' Biol. Survey, Bull. No. 22) 

 lists twenty-two species of birds which have 

 been known to eat the boll-weevil, and says 

 that "it is probable that by carefully pro- 

 tecting such species and by encouraging 

 their increase the good work they now do 

 may be greatly augmented." 



