50 



Bird -Lore 



that the Osprey makes a sufi&ciently 

 strong appeal to our love of wild-life to 

 win it immunity from attack, such as no 

 other of our Hawks enjoys. Mr. Abbott's 

 studies were made mainly on Gardiner's 

 Island; and those who have had the for- 

 tune to visit this now famous bird resort 

 will bear witness to the skill with which 

 he describes the traits of its most dis- 

 tinguished feathered inhabitant, to a 

 knowledge of whose home-life he here 

 makes so valuable a contribution. 



Mr. Abbott's text is supplemented by 

 forty-three admirable and tastefully 

 mounted half-tones. — F. M. C. 



Bird Studies for Home and School. 

 Sixty Common Birds, their Haunts and 

 Habits. By Herman C. DeGroat, 

 Principal Grammar School, No. 31, 

 Buffalo, New York. Published by the 

 author. Sm. 4to., 146 pages; 60 plates. 



Mr. DeGroat tells us that "this book 

 is the outgrowth of four years of exper- 

 ience in the preparation of bird lessons for 

 a city school of more than two thousand 

 pupils." He thus has had the inestimable 

 advantage of addressing a definite audi- 

 ence, and of learning what they want as 

 well as what they do not want — which is 

 quite as important! 



After introductory sections on "Direc- 

 tions to Teachers," "The Usefulness of 

 Birds," "Migration of Birds," "Birds' 

 Nests and Eggs," and the "Enemies of 

 the Birds," Mr. DeGroat devotes from 

 one to two pages to each of sixty common 

 birds, beginning with permanently resi- 

 dent species and adding the migrants in 

 the order of their arrival. These biog- 

 raphies are accompanied by Mumford 

 color plates of the species treated, and at 

 their end a blank space is left for "Bird 

 Notes," a feature which should encourage 

 recording the original observation the 

 book is well designed to stimulate.— 

 F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Auk. — Since its inception in 1884, 

 this journal has been edited by Dr. J. A. 

 Allen, and, for eight years prior to 1884, 



Dr. Allen was editor of the 'Bulletin of 

 the Nuttall Ornithological Club,' its 

 predecessor; so that for thirty-six con- 

 secutive years the destinies of North 

 American ornithology have been guided 

 by a master hand. Fortunate indeed has 

 it been for science in general, and for 

 ornithology in particular, that so able and 

 so painstaking an editor could be found. 

 Few of us realize the cares and responsi- 

 bilities of such a post, or know the labor 

 involved in merely keeping abreast of the 

 great volume of literature that swells in 

 bulk from day to day. Nevertheless, the 

 reviews in 'The Auk,' chiefly written by 

 Dr. Allen himself, would make a good 

 bibliography of the ornithological liter- 

 ature of the past thirty-six years. The 

 time has come when he wishes to shift the 

 editorial mantle to other shoulders, and 

 it has now fallen upon those of Mr. 

 Witmer Stone. We feel that such a change 

 should not be lightly passed over, and we 

 may be pardoned for taking this oppor-. 

 tunity of expressing our profound respect 

 and admiration for Dr. Allen and his 

 work, which we feel sure is also felt by 

 ornithologists and mammalogists the world 

 over and, at the same time we congratu- 

 late the American Ornithologists' Union 

 on securing in Mr. Stone so worthy a 

 successor. 



The January issue is quite up to the 

 usual standard. It opens with an obituary 

 notice of Mr. Henry A. Purdie, by Mr. 

 Wm. Brewster. There is a portrait of 

 Mr. Purdie, who was one of the old-school 

 ornithologists, and best known to mem- 

 bers of the 'Nuttall Club.' The passing of 

 Prof. C. O. Whitman, of whom there is a 

 half-tone, is also noticed by Mr. R. Strong. 

 Mr. Alfred O. Gross presents 'Observa- 

 tions on the Yellow-billed Tropic-bird 

 Phaethon aniericamis Grant) at the 

 Bermuda Islands.' Careful studies of the 

 birds, especially of the development of 

 nestlings, are illustrated by some good 

 plates. Aviators should read Mr. Wm. 

 Brewster's 'Notes on the Flight of Gulls,' 

 in which stress is laid on their ability to 

 glide into the teeth of a gale without the 

 use of so much as a single wing beaU 



