Book News and Reviews 



375 



were then far more abundant than now 

 and performed unmolested the role for 

 which they were created, of maintaining 

 the natural balance and well-being of the 

 animal hosts among which they lived." 

 This is followed by a detailed considera- 

 tion of the status of the water-fowl which 

 are now found in Minnesota. Dr. Roberts 

 here gives us much information concerning 

 their habits and numerical abundance, 

 and his paper therefore has both orni- 

 thological and historical value. — F. M. C. 



The Birds of North and Middle Amer- 

 ica. By Robert Ridgway Part VIII. 

 Jacanas, Thick knees, Oyster-catchers, 

 Turnstones, Surf Birds. Plovers, Snipes, 

 Phalaropes, Avocets and Stilts, Skim- 

 mers, Terns, Gulls, Skuas, Auks. Wash- 

 ington Government Printing Office, 

 1919. 8vo, xv-|-8s2 pages, 34 plates. 



We can accord the eighth volume of this 

 great work no higher praise than to say 

 it reaches the standard of the seven that 

 have preceded it. From the preface we 

 learn that 651 genera, 2,507 species and 

 subspecies of the birds of Middle and North 

 America have been fully treated in these 

 eight volumes, and, in addition, the 

 principal characters have been given of 

 213 extralimital genera and 602 extra- 

 limital species. Surely Professor Baird 

 would be gratified beyond measure had he 

 lived to see the admirable form which his 

 plan for a work on the birds of the region 

 in question has taken.— F. M. C. 



Golden Dicky. The Story of a Canary 

 AND His Friends. By Marshall 

 Saunders. Frederick A. Stokes Co. New 

 York City. i2mo, xi + 280 pages, 

 colored frontispiece. 



The author of 'Beautiful Joe' here makes 

 a Canary her hero and gives us his biog- 

 raphy. The book is designedto arouse in 

 children a sympathetic understanding of 

 both birds and animals, and we believe 

 with the author of the introduction that 

 "the children who read these delightful 

 pages will surely form lasting friendships 

 with Dicky-Dick, the cheery songster, 

 and Chummy, the stout-hearted little 

 Sparrow, and all the Robins and Crackles 

 and Crows, who, with the dogs and squir- 



rels and Nella, the monkey, make up the 

 lively company embraced in these chron- 

 icles."— F. M. C. 



Birds of North Carolina. By T. 

 Gilbert Pearson, C. S. Brimley, and 

 H. H. Brimley. Vol. IV, North Caro- 

 lina Geological and Economic Survey. 

 Raleigh, 1919. Royal 8vo, xxiii 4-380 

 pages, 24 full-page color plates, 10 pho- 

 tographs, 275 text-figures, i map. 



The authors of this work have devoted 

 many years of study to the birds of North 

 Carolina. Mr. Pearson, during his college 

 days at Chapel Hill and, later, as Secre- 

 tary of the State Audubon Society, had 

 wide opportunity to familiarize himself 

 with the bird-life of the region over which 

 this Society had jurisdiction, while the 

 names of the Brimley brothers have been 

 associated with North Carolina orni- 

 thology almost for a generation. Many 

 other sources of information have been 

 drawn on, including the records of the 

 Biological Survey and the observations of 

 fellow ornithologists. 



There are Keys to Orders, Families, 

 Genera, and Species, and descriptions of 

 the latter, the whole, combined with the 

 large number of illustrations, being well 

 designed to make identification largely a 

 matter of correct and definite observation 

 on the part of the student. 



The annotations under each species 

 relate chiefly to its status and manner of 

 occurrence in North Carolina, with data 

 on the breeding species concerning dates, 

 nest-site, and color of the eggs. There 

 are brief comments on general habits, 

 but, as a rule, no descriptions of songs. 



The large number and, with some excep- 

 tions, excellence of the illustrations, adds 

 greatly to the value and attractiveness of 

 this volume, though we nowhere find men- 

 tion of the illustrators. All but one of the 

 full-page color plates are signed by R. 

 Bruce Horsfall. They vary much in 

 character, that of the Wild Geese, for 

 example, being as good as the one figur- 

 ing the White-throated and Fox Sparrows 

 is poor. 



The 27s text-figures are wash-drawings 

 usually of the head and anterior parts of 



