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Dorothy Brooke's School Days. By 

 Frances Campbell Sparhawk. With 

 illustrations bv Frank T. Merrill. 

 Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., New York. 

 1909. 8vo. 358 pages. 



Dorothy Brooke is a type of a lovable 

 school girl with a heart large enough to 

 take in not only her schoolmates, but also 

 the birds. Her championship of her bird 

 friends is a fine example for every Ameri- 

 can school child. The story is one that 

 should be in every school library. No 

 mother need fear to place the book in her 

 daughter's hands, who, if she adopts the 

 motto of Dorothy Brooke, can not fail 

 to become a good woman. 



Books of this character are good reading 

 for the young folks. — W. D. 



The Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin. 

 By Charles B. Cory, Curator of De 

 partment of Zoology. Field Museum of 

 Natural History. Publication 131. Zoo- 

 logical Series. Vol. IX. Chicago, U. S. 

 A., 1909. 4 to 764 pages. 



According to the preface, "the present 

 work includes, as far as known, all species 

 and subspecies of birds which occur in 

 Illinois and Wisconsin, the total number 

 being 398, with descriptions of their 

 various plumages, nests and eggs, and 

 geographical distribution, together with 

 more or less brief biographical notes con- 

 cerning them." The work is, therefore, a 

 complete manual of the birds of the two 

 states. 



The illustrated keys are very compre- 

 hensive, occupying the first 274 pages. 

 There is also a key to the eggs of the 

 breeding species and a bibliography of 

 eleven pages. 



The occurrence of so large a number of 

 birds, 400 species and sub-species, in 

 these two states, is due to a combination 

 of favorable circumstances. The pro.xim- 

 ity of the Great Lakes results in the pres- 

 ence of many aquatic species ordinarily 

 absent from inland localities. The oc- 

 currence of many western species is another 

 clement. The five characteristic Mississippi 

 valley species — Yellow-headed Black-bird 



Western Meadovvlark, Lark Sparrow, 

 Clay-colored Sparrow and Bell's Vireo are 

 more or less common breeding birds in 

 at least parts of the area, and constitute 

 the only important difference between 

 the avifauna of these states and those 

 of the Atlantic border. In addition to 

 these, there are 35 or 40 distinctly western 

 species that occur as stragglers. The 700 

 miles between the northern and southern 

 boundaries of the region results in great 

 differences between the bird faunas of 

 the two extremes, and, while some boreal 

 species have been recorded only from 

 northern Wisconsin, a much larger num- 

 ber of typically southern species are known 

 only from Illinois. 



The numerous illustrations — the ma- 

 jority borrowed from various sources, but 

 a few, apparently, made especially for 

 the present work — are of very unequal 

 merit. Many of the wood-cuts of heads 

 are lacking both in character and in artis- 

 tic quality, and are unworthy of a work 

 of such value. The half-tones, while 

 more satisfactory, are, in some cases, 

 marred by slight inaccuracies. Thus, the 

 tarsus of the Man-o'-War Bird is repre- 

 sented as wholly devoid of feathers, and 

 the small hind-toe of the Avocet is re- 

 markably elevated. An excellent feature 

 is the representation on one plate of re- 

 lated species, such as the various Owls 

 and the Woodpeckers, to show their 

 relative size. 



A few errors have inevitably crept in. 

 The head of the Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 does duty for Nelson's Sharp-tailed 

 Sparrow, on page 197; the figure of the 

 Cooper's Hawk on page 461, is actually 

 the Broad-winged Hawk, and the latter 

 species, following the error of the Check- 

 List, is located in the sub-genus Tachy- 

 Iriorchis. A number of sub-genera are 

 omitted, apparently unintentionally, as 

 under Marila, Sterna and Pelecanus. 



Only the typical sub-species of the 

 Parula Warbler, Compsothlypis Ameri- 

 cana, is given; but usnea is the form found 



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