66 



Bird -Lore 



those included we do not recall having 

 seen referred to by ornithologists. We 

 note, however, that no reference is made to 

 Aughey's important paper on the ' Food 

 of the Birds of Nebraska' (First Annual 

 Report of the U. S. Ent. Comm., for the 

 Year 1877); to King's extended report on 

 the ' Economic Relations of Wisconsin 

 Birds, ' occupying nearly two hundred pages 

 in the Wisconsin Geological Survey for 

 1882, or to Warren's ' Report on the Birds 

 of Pennsylvania, with Special Reference to 

 the Food Habits,' etc. — F. M. C. 



A Nature Wooing at Ormond-by-the 

 Sea. By W. S. Blatchi.ey. Nature- 

 Study Publishing Company, Indianapo- 

 lis. 1902. i2mo. 245 pages, 12 plates, 

 numerous text-cuts, map. 



The author's every-day experiences as a 

 field-naturalist interested in plants, insects, 

 shells, reptiles, birds and mammals are 

 here so pleasantly and instructively re- 

 counted that his book may be read 

 with both interest and profit. Particularly 

 should it appeal to those in quest of gen- 

 eral information concerning the more char- 

 acteristic phases of animal life in Florida. 



Of unusual importance was his discovery 

 of a bone of the great Auk in an Ormond 

 shell heap ; a discovery subsequently con- 

 firmed by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock (see Bird- 

 Lore IV, 97).— F. M. C. 



The Birds of Wyoming. By Wilbur C. 

 Knight. Bull. No. 55, Wyoming Ex- 

 periment Station, Laramie, Wvo. 8vo. 

 174 pages, 48 plates. 



This Bulletin enumerates the 288 species 

 and subspecies of birds which have been 

 found in Wyoming, discusses their status 

 as Wyoming birds, and, in some in- 

 stances, their habits and economic value. 

 Forty-eight admirably printed, full-page, 

 half-tone plates, from original drawings by 

 Mr. Frank Bond, figure upward of a 

 hundred species, and add greatly to the 

 educational value of the work, which 

 should have a most stimulating effect on 

 the study of birds in Wyoming. It is to be 

 regretted, however, that the author should 

 be so far behind the times as to consider 

 bird - killing synonymous with bird study. 

 — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — 'The Auk ' for January, 

 1903, opens with a discussion of 'TheA.O. 

 U. Check-List; Its History and its Future' 

 by J. A. Allen. If each priority seeker, 

 not merely content with digging deeper than 

 his predecessor, will only upturn literature 

 down to the bed-rock foundation of 1758, 

 then we may hope for an end of the name 

 changes of the last twenty years. The 

 nomenclatural broth seems to be spoiled 

 by too many inefficient cooks. 



E. W. Doran would have reform in 'The 

 Vernacular Names of Birds,' but, as Dr. 

 Allen shows on a later page, reformers 

 have a hard road to travel when current 

 usage blocks the way. Of interest to the 

 general reader is an article by A. W. 

 Anthony, on the 'Migration of Richard- 

 son's Grouse.' They advance "by walk- 

 ing up to the tops of the hills and ridges 

 and as invariably flying as near to the top 

 of the next as their gradually descending 

 flight will carry them." Then we have 

 'Arizona Bird Notes ' by H. Brown and 

 'The Diary of a Cardinal's Nest' by G. 

 F. Harvey, the latter with a half-tone 

 of the nest in a conservatory. The half- 

 tones accompanying E. H. Eaton's account 

 of 'An Epidemic of Roup in the Canan- 

 daigua Crow Roost ' are suggestive of a 

 battlefield. In 'An Ornithological Visit 

 to Los Coronados Islands, Lower Cali- 

 fornia ' we find among the birds mentioned 

 a new insular, full species Song Sparrow, 

 Melospiza coronatorum. The conversion 

 of the Spanish word into Latin, as well as 

 the recognition of a new species in an al- 

 ready much confused group, affords food for 

 reflection. There are 'Notes concerning 

 Certain Birds of Long Island, N. Y.,' by 

 W. C. Braislin, among them the capture 

 of Larus minutus, thus further establishing 

 its credentials as a North American visitor. 

 The proceedings at the twentieth congress 

 of the A. O. U. are reviewed by the secre- 

 tary, J. H. Sage; and after the usual 'Gen- 

 eral Notes,' 'Recent Literature, ' etc., there 

 follows as a supplement the 'Report of the 

 A. O. U. Committee on the Protection of 

 North American Birds' by W. Dutcher, 



