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Bird -Lore 



has thus a broader scope than is indicated 

 by its title. 



The descriptions of the nests and eggs are 

 of a rather general character, not always as 

 definite and full as might be desired. The 

 data of many of the eggs figured is also 

 given. 



The illustrations are the most important 

 features of the work. The egg of almost 

 every species is figured, natural size, and 

 the ground color of the egg is indicated in 

 brackets beneath it. Among the rarer eggs 

 shown are those of the Carolina Paroquet, 

 Solitary Sandpiper and Great Auk. 



In addition, there are eighty-five illustra- 

 tions ( fifty of them full-page), reproduced 

 from photographs of nests, most of them 

 with eggs, others with parent or young. 

 Many of these have appeared before in vari- 

 ous publications and a considerable number 

 are the work of the author. For the most 

 part, they are very satisfactory. Among the 

 most effective may be mentioned those of the 

 Loggerhead Shrike, Redstart, Woodcock, 

 Grasshopper Sparrow, Ruby-throated Hum- 

 mingbird, Long-eared Owl and Red-eyed 

 Vireo, — all but the first two showing the old 

 bird sitting on nest. 



In the preface the author gives excellent 

 advice to young bird-students, condemning 

 the indiscriminate collecting of eggs and 

 advocating the study of the live bird and 

 the use of the camera for photographing 

 nests.— W. DeW. M. 



Bird Life Stories: Compiled from the 

 writings of Audubon, Bendire, Nuttall 

 and Wilson, by Clarence Moores 

 Weed. Book I, Rand, McNalIy& Com- 

 pany, Chicago, New York, London. 



With the very worthy object of supplying 

 teachers with readable and accurate biog- 

 raphies of our common birds. Professor 

 Weed has wisely gone to writers who loved 

 truth no less than birds. Twenty-four 

 species are included in the present volume, 

 and each is illustrated by a coloritype of 

 mounted birds. 



The bibliophile will doubtless not ap- 

 prove of the modification of the ' language 

 and punctuation' of the text of the authors 

 quoted from without any indication what- 

 ever of the changes made by the compiler. 



and it is to be hoped that in the future v6 - 

 umes of this series, which are announced, 

 this difficulty will have been overcome. 

 — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines. 



The Condor — The May-June number of 

 ' The Condor' contains four general articles 

 of more than usual interest. Under the 

 title of 'The Home Life of a Buccaneer,' 

 W. K. Fisher gives an interesting account 

 of the habits of the Man-o'-War Bird on 

 Laysan Island, describing the peculiar 

 actions of the male and the inflation of his 

 brilliant red gular sac during the mating 

 season. The Man-o'-War Bird is almost 

 incapable of walking on land but is per- 

 fectly at home in the air, so much so that it 

 even drinks while on the wing. Emerson's 

 article on the Farallone Islands gives the 

 results of a visit to the wonderful bird 

 rookery on the California coast in the sum- 

 mer of 1903, and compares the conditions 

 with those which existed at the time of a 

 previous visit in 1887. As might be expected, 

 many changes were found to have taken 

 place and some of the colonies had disap- 

 peared during the intervening sixteen years. 

 We can scarcely have too many papers of 

 this kind containing detailed studies of 

 localities or breeding resorts of special in- 

 terest, but what is especially needed are 

 series of photographs of particular nesting 

 colonies, or definite points, for comparison 

 with similar views of the same spots in the 

 future. Such photographs would bring 

 out more clearly than any description pos- 

 sibly can, the changes which occur after 

 the lapse of a few years. 



Mrs. Bailey describes the nesting habits 

 of the Rock Wren in New Mexico, and calls 

 attention to the number of stones found in 

 the nests or arranged like walks in front. 

 Several of the twelve nests examined in 1903 

 contained a large number of stones, and one 

 had 260 stones, none less than half an inch 

 in length. The question naturally suggests 

 itself, "How general is the Salpinction use 

 of stones, and what proportion of nests 

 have the walks leading away from them?" 

 Price contributes notes on birds found in 



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