32 AMERICAN OBNITHOLOGY. 



RRVIRWS 



Country Life in America (Doubleday, Page for) Dec, contains an 

 article that will prove of both value and interest to ornithologists. It 

 is "A Skimmer of the Seas," by Frank M. Chapman. The continued 

 abundance of these birds is accounted for by the author as follows: 

 "Marvelously graceful in the air, the Skimmer is so grotesquely ugly, 

 when at rest that not even the milliner considers it available for alleged 

 decorative purposes; consequently it has been spared when the more 

 beautiful terns that formerly nested on the beaches with it have been 

 destroyed by countless thousands. Skimmers, today, therefore, are 

 numerous in favorable localities on the coast from Maryland to Texas." 

 It has been a common report for years that Skimmers did not sit on 

 their nests during the day time except in stormy weather. The several 

 photographs that the author secured of Skimmers on their nests gives 

 optical proof that the common report was in error- The illustrations 

 include a number of remarkable photos of flying Skimmers. 



The Condor, November-December, contains the following leading 

 articles: ''Birds of the Little Sur River," by Joseph Grinnell; "Hol- 

 boell Grebe in Montana," by P. M Silloway; Part II on "Land Birds of 

 the Redwood Belt of Northern Calif.," by Walter K. Fisher; "Birds 

 collected in Norton Sound, Alaska," by Richard C. McGregor; "The 

 Least Tern at San Diego. Mr. Walter K. Fisher has assumed the re- 

 sponsibilities of editor upon the decease of Mr. Chester Barlow. 



Ernest Thompson Seton's plea for detailed records of observations 

 ■ made afield; F. A. Lucas' account of birds' weapons, and Frank M. 

 Chapman's instructions to students as to the best ways to study birds 

 are the leading articles in Bird-Lore (The Macmillan Company) for 

 December, The illustrations include one of Ernest Thompson Seton 

 in his Manitoba camp, the first group in a series of the prominent orni- 

 thologists forming Bird-Lore's Advisory Council, and a remarkable 

 view of a colony containing 2,000 Flamingoes' nests. 



Messrs. Dana Estes & Co., announce that the fifth revised edition of 

 the "Key to North American Birds" by Dr. Elliott Coues, so long and 

 patiently awaited by the public, will be ready in the spring of 1903. 

 The reason for the unusual delay in its publication maybe briefly stated. 

 When Dr. Coues died in 1899 he left the manuscript wholly finished, 

 but the copy was rendered hard to decipher without the exercise of 

 most intelligent care by reason of innumerable interlineations, erasures, 

 abbreviations, "riders," and detached notes, written in a minute and 

 sometimes dilificult handwriting. It was evident that had the Doctor 

 lived he would have cast his material, although entirely completed as 

 he left it, into a form which would present fewer difficulties to the com- 

 positor. His sudden death left the copy in such shape that the task of 

 revision and preparation for the press required double the amount of 

 work that had been anticipated. The publishers, however, have had 



