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A Hermit's Wild Friends, or Eighteen 

 Years in the Woods. By Mason A. 

 Walton. Dana Estes & Co., Boston. 

 i2mo. xii + 304 pp., numerous illustra- 

 tions. 



It is one thing to have opportunity, but 

 quite another to take advantage of it. The 

 author of this book, for example, during 

 his eighteen years' residence in the woods, 

 had rare opportunity to learn much of his 

 wild neighbors; but lack of proper scientific 

 training, combined with an ignorance of, 

 or disregard for, the studies of other ob- 

 servers, has made the record he here presents 

 not only a worthless but a positively harmful 

 addition to the list of books on the habits 

 of animals. 



The book is filled with unwarranted con- 

 clusions. Crows and Chickadees and, fi- 

 nally, all birds from "Eagles down to 

 Hummingbirds," are said to mate for life; 

 but not a shred of evidence is given to sup- 

 port this sweeping assertion. Crows were 

 seen to "talk" to a Hawk in a "low tone," 

 and "it was evident that they were telling 

 him that his loud screams would bring all 

 the hunters of Cape Ann to the spot"! 



The sex of birds which differ neither in 

 size nor plumage is determined in some un- 

 explained way without question, and indi- 

 vidual birds are recognized year after year 

 without evident consideration of the possi- 

 bility of error. , Nevertheless, for a Cow- 

 bird to know one of its own kind without 

 instruction is considered a "miracle " Con- 

 sequently it is essential, according to our 

 author, that the young Cowbird be tutored 

 by "its own mother" (that is, the bird that 

 laid the egg from which it was hatched). 

 The manner of reasoning pursued in reach- 

 ing this conclusion, and, indeed, through- 

 out the book, is well illustrated by the inci- 

 dent of the Cowbird and Yellow Warblers 

 (pages 211-216). A Cowbird was seen to 

 "flutter" on to the nest of a pair of Yellow 

 Warblers and "add her parasite egg" to 

 the two Yellow Warbler eggs already in 

 the nest. The Yellow Warblers on return- 



ing discussed the matter, and it was de- 

 cided that the female lay no more eggs,. 

 since, it is stated, they "intelligently under- 

 stood that they must sacrifice their first brood- 

 in order to raise a second brood unmolested."" 

 "After the egg was laid" it was thought 

 that the female Cowbird "visited the nest 

 several times a day," but the statement that 

 "her frequent visits had accustomed the- 

 young birds to her presence" is made with- 

 out the qualifying "think." The twO' 

 young Yellow Warblers were crowded out 

 of the nest at the age of one day by the 

 young Cowbird when he was two days old, 

 but whether the act was seen or inferred 

 is not stated. "One day," some time after 

 the young Cowbird had left the nest, the 

 female Yellowbird was missed, and "after 

 a long search," was found "engaged in 

 building a new nest." The young Cowbird 

 was now "looked up" and found under the 

 care of the male Yellow Warbler, assisted 

 by "the old Cowbird," and several days- 

 later the Warbler deserted his charge to re- 

 turn and help his mate with her second 

 brood. 



After these observations the question is- 

 asked, "Why do young Cowbirds lay eggs 

 in other birds' nests, instead of building 

 nests for themselves ? " and it is answered 

 in the following remarkable paragraph: 

 "When the Cowbird was out of the shell it 

 was big and black. It was my first young 

 Cowbird, and I thought it was a male. I 

 made it a male in my note-book. While 

 the bird was on the nest I fastened a bit of 

 copper wire to its leg, and the next spring, 

 when it returned, I found that the bird was- 

 a female. I saw her with another female, 

 I think it was the mother, visiting birds'" 

 nests. So the young Cowbird was educated 

 to lay its eggs in other birds' nests. Nest- 

 building is educational and not instinctive." 



Further quotations would only furnish 

 additional illustrations of the author's as- 

 sumption and dogmatism. Indeed, we 

 should not consider the book at this length 

 were it not to protest against the publication 



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