Book News and Reviews 



89 



more than sufficient return for the care, 

 food, and shelter which, properly furnished 

 to creatures wholly dependent upon us, 

 means the expenditure of much thought 

 and time on our part. — F. M. C. 



Report of the Chief of the Bureau 

 OF Biological Survey for 1908. By 

 C. Hart Merriam, Chief. From the 

 Annual Reports of the Department of 

 Agriculture, pp. 1-22. 

 An adequate review of this summary 

 of the activities of the Biological Survey 

 for 1908 would practically entail its repro- 

 duction entire, but a mere statement of 

 its major headings will at least convey an 

 idea of the increase in scope and impor- 

 tance of the Survey's investigations. 



Under 'Economic Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy' we have the results of 

 studies of the economic relations of 

 'Wolves and Coyotes,' 'Field Mice,' 

 'House Rats,' 'Deer Farming,' 'Fox 

 Farming,' 'Relation of Birds to the Cotton 

 Boll Weevil,' 'California Birds in Relation 

 to Fruit Industry,' 'Food of Wild Ducks,' 

 'Food of Woodpeckers,' 'Mosquito-eating 

 Birds,' Birds in Relation to the Codling 

 Moth,' 'Grosbeaks,' 'Spread of the Eng- 

 lish Sparrow in Southern California,' 

 'Means of Attracting Birds.' 



This splendid showing is followed by 

 a synopsis of the work of the year on 'Geo- 

 graphic Distribution,' and on 'Game 

 Protection.' The field covered by the 

 Survey's Department of Game Protection 

 widens annually and its influence, in a 

 variety of ways, is manifested throughout 

 the country. For example, we have here 

 brief reports on the general subject of 

 'Game Protection,' on the 'Importation 

 of Foreign Mammals and Birds,' 'Bird 

 Reservations,' 'Protection of Game in 

 Alaska,' 'Stocking Covers,' 'Quail Dis- 

 ease,' 'Cooperative Work,' etc. 



The publications of the Survey for the 

 year include five Bulletins, one Farmers' 

 Bulletin, four Yearbook Articles, four 

 Circulars, the Report of the Chief for 

 1907, and the reprint of former publica- 

 tions. 



The Outline of Work for 1909 shows 

 no decrease in the energy and foresight 

 with which the work of this distinctively 



American 'Bureau' of scientific investi- 

 gation will be prosecuted. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — The January number con- 

 tains an unusual amount of information 

 relative to the habits of various species of 

 birds, and an article on the 'Nesting of the 

 Bohemian Waxwing {Bombycilla garrula),' 

 by Mr. R. M. Anderson is the one possessed 

 of most novelty. Very few North American 

 nests of this bird have previously been 

 taken, largely on account of its far north- 

 ern distribution and the careful conceal- 

 ment of its nest. It will be noted that the 

 Waxwings, by a new shuffle of the nomen- 

 clature cards, lose the long-familiar generic 

 name Ampelis. 



Dr. C. W. Townsend portrays 'Some 

 Habits of the English Sparrow {Passer 

 domesiicus)', as seen in the city streets 

 where the birds merely participate in the 

 rudeness, noise and aggressiveness of 

 modern urban life. At page 78 figures 

 are presented in evidence to show that the 

 struggle for existence produces larger bills. 

 If Dr. Townsend had said larger mouths 

 we would easily believe it judging by the 

 vocal rows we have all listened to. Quieter 

 residents are 'The Virginia and Sora Rails 

 nesting in New York, ' of which Mr. J. A. 

 Weber writes, and they afford still an- 

 other illustration of how a species will 

 cling to its ancestral nesting-site at long as 

 it remains possible for it to do so. Adapta- 

 tion or extermination are the alternatives 

 birds have to face, and Mr. Wm. Palmer 

 touches upon this in his paper on 'In- 

 stinctive Stillness in Birds. ' 



Mr. N. A. Wood has 'Notes on the 

 Occurrence of the Yellow Rail in Michi- 

 gan'; L. J. Cole tells of 'The Destruction 

 of Birds at Niagara Falls;' Mr. G. Eifig 

 contributes ' Winter Birds of New Ontario 

 and Other Notes on Northern Birds,' and 

 there are brief lists by S. G. Jewett on 

 'Some Birds of Baker County, Oregon;' 

 by A. Brooks on 'Some Notes on the Birds 

 Okanagan, British Columbia;' and by 

 C. Sheldon who gives a 'List of Birds 

 Observed on the Upper Toklat River near 

 Mt. McKinley, Alaska, 1907-1908.' 



