124 



Bird -Lore 



Thus the White-crowned Sparrow is said 

 to occur in March, the Blackburnian 

 Warbler is spoken of as among the earliest 

 of its family, and is said to arrive the 

 second week in April, a date which is also 

 given for the first appearance of the 

 Magnolia Warbler, but the Yellow Palm 

 Warbler is not to be looked tor until the 

 fourth week of the month. The coming 

 of the Yellow-throated Vireo is set down 

 for the first week in April, and the Yellow- 

 winged Sparrow, which is said to be 

 "rarely seen" far from the seashore, is 

 stated to reach us the second work in April. 

 The Chebec is alluded to as possessing an 

 exquisite voice, and is said to nest in 

 bushes. 



This lack of exactness, of which other 

 evidences could be given, detracts from 

 the value of the book for those who desire 

 to compare their own records with those 

 here given ; but the general reader will 

 find that the rise and fall of the bird-life 

 of the year are described in an instructive 

 and, in the main, accurate manner ; and it 

 is to the general reader, rather than the 

 enthusiastic specialist, that the book is 

 addressed. — F. M. C. 



Bulletin No. 12 U. S Department of Agri- 

 culture, Division of Biological Survey. 

 Legislation for the Protection of 

 Birds other th.an Game Birds. By T. 

 S. Palmer, Assistant Chief of the Bio- 

 logical Survey. Prepared under the di- 

 rection of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief 

 of Biological Survey, Washington, Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office. 8v"o. Pages 

 94. Ills. 



Onty a person who has had occasion to 

 ascertain the non-game bird law of a given 

 state can fully appreciate the value of the 

 service which Dr. Palmer has rendered to 

 every one interested in bird-protective leg- 

 islation by presenting, in one volume, the 

 laws ( or absence of them ) of every state 

 and territory in the Union and of the Cana- 

 dian provinces. This 'Bulletin, ' however, 

 is not only of value as a reference book or 

 ' digest, ' but it reveals the surprisingly in- 

 adequate laws which exist in most of our 

 states for the protection of non-game birds, 

 and thus furnishes a definite point of de- 

 parture in the attempt to secure for these 



birds as effective legal protection as is gen- 

 erally accorded game birds. 



But Dr. Palmer's work is not merely a 

 compilation, over one-half of it being de- 

 ' voted to a ' General Discussion of Protec- 

 tive Legislation,' where are authoritatively 

 treated such moot subjects as the definition 

 of a game bird, the value of birds of prey, 

 etc., with other matter relating to the 

 needs of bird protection, destruction of 

 birds for millinery purposes, issuance of 

 permits for collecting, licenses, etc. Here 

 also are presented histories of the Hoar, 

 Teller and Lacey bird-protective bills and 

 a slightly amended and annotated reprint 

 of the model bird law proposed b)' the Am- 

 erican Ornithologists' Union. 



We cannot be too grateful to Dr. Palmer 

 for the admirable manner in which, in this 

 Bulletin No. 12, he has evolved order out 

 of chaos in matters relating to legislation 

 for non-game birds. — F. M. C. 



Warblers' Songs. By Lynds Jones. 

 Wilson Bulletin No. 30. Oberlin, Ohio 

 January, igoo. Pages 56. 



The philosophic student of birds' lan- 

 guage, will find in this paper much to 

 interest him, while bird-lovers, to whom 

 the Warblers are a source of despair, may 

 receive from it very effective aid in making 

 identifications. 



It was a very happj- idea of Mr. Jones 

 to thus bring together between two covers, 

 what has been written in description of 

 Warblers' Songs, and the value of his 

 paper has been greatly increased by the 

 addition of his own observations and those 

 of the members of the Wilson Ornitholo- 

 gical Chapter, who have assisted him. 



An ' Introduction ' gives the reasons for 

 presenting the paper, and the manner in 

 which the material contained in it was 

 secured, and is followed by an extended 

 bibliography and discussion of the types 

 of Warblers' songs, song-periods, kinds of 

 song, variability, etc. He writes feelingly 

 of the difficulties encountered in attempting 

 to describe the songs of most Warblers, 

 and then treats serially each of the fifty- 

 seven species and sixteen subspecies of this 

 family which have been found in North 

 America. — F. M. C. 



