36 



Bird-Lore 



to as " a systematic changing of environment 

 when conditions are unfavorable to life," a 

 statement assuredly at variance with the 

 bird's desertion of a southern winter home at 

 a season when food is daily increasing for 

 a comparatively barren breeding resort. 

 Again "the effort of the Sparrow to keep 

 warm in winter" is presented as an illustra- 

 tion of one of the primary factors in the 

 struggle for existence, whereas it is believed 

 by many that, given an abundance of 

 proper food, with birds, at least, temper- 

 ature is of comparatively little importance. 

 The definiteness with which the duration of 

 life of various animals is stated is, perhaps, 

 hardly warranted by the known facts; while 

 theories in explanation of the significance of 

 so-called recognition, signaling, warning, 

 alluring, etc., colors are still too numerous 

 to render advisable the treatment here ac- 

 corded them. In this connection we regret 

 to see that Mr. Abbott H. Thayer's very 

 beautiful demonstration ('The Auk,' 1896, 

 p. 125) of the law which underlies protec- 

 tive coloration, a discovery revolutionizing 

 our ideas of what constitutes protective col- 

 oration, is not mentioned. 



The illustrations are numerous and in- 

 structive, many being reproductions of photo- 

 graphs from nature. We would, however, 

 call the attention of the authors to two or 

 three slips requiring correction: thus the 

 "Arctic Black Duck" figured on page 137 

 with twelve young is evidently one of the 

 Scaups {Aythya) , which are not known to 

 lay more than ten eggs; the "Canada Jays" 

 on page 138 are clearly Blue Jays and, un- 

 less we are mistaken, the artist is indebted 

 to Mr. Dugmore's clever photograph of the 

 young of this species, in Scott's ' Bird Stud- 

 ies' (p. 57) ; the intertwined horns on p. 148 

 are those of deer and not of "elk," as stated, 

 and the male Baltimore Oriole, on p. 267, is 

 shown in the act of nest-building, though, 

 as far as we know, the male has not been 

 observed to assist in constructing the nest. 



'Animal Life' is such an admirable piece 

 of work that our desire to aid its authors in 

 eradicating the errors which are bound to 

 creep in a book covering so wide a field, has 

 perhaps led us to appear unduly critical, 

 whereas, in truth, we cannot too highly 



commend it as an ideal text-book, which, 

 we trust, will speedily replace the antiquated 

 zoologies that have so long blocked the stu- 

 dent's pathway to knowledge. — F. M. C. 



WHO SAID MICE? 

 (From 'Our Bird Friends') 



Our Bird Friends; A Book for All 

 Boys and Girls. By Richard Kearton. 

 With 100 original illustrations from pho- 

 tographs by C. Kearton. Cassell & 

 Co. Ltd. London, Paris, New York and 

 Melbourne, 1900. i2mo, pp. xvi +215. 



With the eminently worthy object of 

 stimulating and properly directing chil- 

 dren's inherent interest in birds, Mr. Kear- 

 ton has written a book which seems ad- 

 mirably adapted to accomplish not alone 

 the end in view, but to appeal with equal 

 force to grown folk as well. 



We have here no rehash of old material 

 or compilation of selected stories for the 

 young, but an original contribution to the 

 literature of ornithology based largely on 

 the author's personal experiences. 



The book is not local, and while the 

 birds treated are British species, the sub- 

 jective method of presentation renders it 

 almost as attractive to American as to Eng- 

 lish readers. Thus the chapters on ' Nests 



