iloDft jBtetD0 anti 3^et}teto0 



Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty. 

 Being a Complete History of all the 

 Song Birds: Flycatchers, Humming- 

 birds, Swifts, Goatsuckers, Woodpeckers, 

 Kingfishers, Trogons, Cuckoos, and 

 Parrots, of North America. By Henry 

 Nehrling. . . . With thirty-six col- 

 ored plates, after water-color paintings 

 by Robert Ridgway, A. Goering and 

 Gustav Muetzel, Milwaukee. George 

 Brumder. 4to. Vol. I, 1893, L -|- 372 pp. 

 18 plls. Vol. II, 1896, 452 pp., 18 pits. 

 [Popular Edition.] Germania Publishing 

 Company, Milwaukee, Wis. $4.50. 



The publication of a popular edition of 

 Nehrling's 'Native Birds of Song and 

 Beauty,' at a price which places it within 

 the reach of everyone, is an event calling 

 for more than passing notice. 



The scope of this work is indicated by 

 its title; and, while we may question its 

 presenting "a complete history" of the 

 species treated, it does present in its 870 

 odd pages a vast amount of information 

 concerning them. 



The present appears to differ from the 

 original edition only in the character of 

 the binding. In scientific nomenclature it 

 is somewhat out-of-date; but fortunately 

 the common names of our birds are less 

 subject to change than their technical 

 ones, and, being much the same today that 

 they were twenty years ago, the book may 

 be used without a table of synonyms; 

 while the biographical matter which dis- 

 tinguishes the work is as valuable now as 

 it was when published. 



The thirty-one colored plates, figuring 

 some thirty-six species, vary in excellence. 

 Those by Ridgway are faithful portraits 

 based on life studies; those by Muetzel 

 show great talent as a bird portrait-painter, 

 and much skill and artistic ability in 

 grouping several species in one plate. The 

 plates are produced by some lithographic 

 process giving more pleasing and more 

 accurate results than we are accustomed 

 to see in this country. They are issued by 

 the publishers in a paper-bound volume, 

 apart from the text they were designed 

 to accompany. — F. M. C. 



Birds of the Pacific Slope of South- 

 ern California. By George Wil- 

 lett. Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 7. 

 Cooper Orn. Club, Hollywood, Calif. 

 Roy. 8vo., pp. 1-122. 



The area covered by this paper includes 

 "all of Santa Barbara and Ventura Coun- 

 ties, Los Angeles County south and west 

 from the Liebre Mountains, Sierra 

 Pelona and Sierra San Gabriel, San 

 Bernardino County, south and west from 

 the Sierra Madre and San Bernardino 

 Ranges, all of Orange County, Riverside 

 County west from the San Jacinto Range, 

 and San Diego County west from the 

 Volcan and Cuyamaca Ranges; also the 

 eight islands of the Santa Barbara group. 



From this widely diversified region, 

 Mr. Willett records 377 species and sub- 

 species of birds, a greater number than 

 has been reported from any Atlantic 

 Coast state except New York. The sub- 

 jects of local distribution, time and man- 

 ner of occurrence, comparative numbers, 

 and nesting season are dealt with in the 

 thoroughly workmanlike manner which 

 proclaim an authoritative publication. — 

 F. M. C. 



The Experimental Method of Test- 

 ing THE Efficiency of Warning and 

 Cryptic Coloration in Protecting 

 Animals from Their p:nemies. By 

 W. L. McAtee. Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, 191 2, pp. 281-364. 



Thories in explanation of the coloration 

 of animals have concerned insects more 

 frequently than any other class of ani- 

 mals. These small, helpless creatures have 

 been commonly believed to escape from 

 their enemies by the possession of certain 

 color characteristics which may, for 

 example, render edible species inconspicu- 

 ous (protective coloration), and inedible 

 or ill-tasting species conspicuous (warning 

 coloration). To test such theories, various 

 experiments have been made from time 

 to time by offering insects to captive 

 birds, amphibia, or reptiles, and Mr. 



(357) 



