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The Birds of North and Middle Amer- 

 ica. By Robert Ridgway. Part II. 

 Bull. No. 50, U S. Nat. Mus., Wash- 

 ington, 1902. 8 vo. XX 4- 834 pages; 

 xxii plates. 



We have already expressed our high ap- 

 preciation of the first part of this great 

 work, treating of the Finches, and can 

 accord to this second part equally sin- 

 cere praise. The families included, with 

 the number of species and subspecies given 

 in each, are as follows: Tanagers, 112; 

 Blackbirds Orioles, etc., iii; Honey 

 Creepers, 29; Warblers, 181. 



Experience with Part I of the work 

 proves in practice its great utility; and we 

 imagine each succeeding part will be more 

 cordially welcomed than its predecessor, as 

 use brings a realization of the enormous 

 value of the book. — F. M. C. 



London Birds, and Other Sketches. By 

 T. DiGBY PiGOTT. New Edition, re- 

 vised and enlarged. London, Edward 

 Arnold. New York, Longmans, Green 

 & Co. 8vo. xiii +256 pages; 8 plates. 



'London Birds,' 'The Birds of the Outer 

 Faroes,' 'The Shetlands in the Birds' 

 Nesting Season,' 'The Last English Home 

 of the Bearded Tit,' 'St. Kilda from With- 

 out," and the 'Haunts of the Shearwater' 

 are titles of some of the chapters in this 

 volume and indicate the nature of its con- 

 tents. The author has evidently drawn on 

 his more interesting experiences afield, and 

 these he recounts in so readable a manner 

 that the book is a more than usually attrac- 

 tive one of its class. We commend it, 

 therefore, to our readers as a work in which 

 they will find much information pleasingly 

 presented. — F. M. C. 



The Story of a Martin Colony. By 

 J. Warren Jacobs, Waynesburg, Pa. 

 Published by the author. 

 Mr. Jacobs' experience with Purple Mar- 

 tins is exceedingly interesting and possesses 

 both scientific and practical value. His 

 first Martin house was erected in 1896. It 

 contained twenty rooms and was tenanted 



that year by eight birds, who succeeded in 

 rearing eleven young. The following year 

 this house was occupied by twenty birds 

 and the number of young raised was thirty- 

 five. 



The third year a second Martin house, 

 of thirty-four rooms, was erected, and 

 twenty-eight birds took possession of it that 

 season; while twenty-four birds nested in 

 house number one ; the total number of 

 young reared being between ninety and one 

 hundred. The fourth year (1899) a third 

 house was added and the colony grew to 

 one hundred and six birds, thirty -two in 

 each of the first two houses, and forty-two 

 in the new house. The number of young 

 which reached maturity this season was be- 

 tween one hundred and fifty and one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five. At the end of only 

 four years, therefore, the colony contained 

 nearly three hundred birds ! 



Mr. Jacobs now constructed several Mar- 

 tin houses, which were erected by other 

 residents of Waynesburg, and, in due sea- 

 son, were claimed by the birds for which 

 they were designed. 



It is a highly significant fact that, in 

 nearly every instance, the new houses were 

 taken possession of by males (and probably, 

 also, females) of the previous year, the 

 progeny, doubtless, of the birds already 

 established. As long as additional nesting- 

 sites were afforded the birds, it appears that 

 they continued rapidly to increase. If, 

 however, additional quarters had not been 

 available the birds would, naturally, have 

 been obliged to search for them elsewhere ; 

 when, if a home had not been discovered, 

 there would have been no increase in the 

 total progeny of the original colony — an 

 interesting illustration of how effectually 

 the numbers of a species may be governed 

 by the lack of suitable nesting-places. 



We must refer the reader to Mr. Jacobs' 

 paper for further details of this welcome 

 contribution to our intimate knowledge of 

 birds' habits. We may add, however, that 



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