iloofe jBteto0 ana ^^etoietos 



The Haunts of the Golden - winged 

 Warbler. By J. Warren Jacobs. 

 Gleanings No. III. Waynesburg. Pa. 

 8 vo. Ills. 32 pages. 



An especial interest is attached to Mr. 

 Jacobs' bird studies. They constitute the 

 best answer to the local ornithologist's 

 query, "What shall I do?" with which we 

 are familiar. In by far the larger number 

 of cases when the resident ornithologist has 

 published a list of the birds of his region, 

 his subsequent contributions to knowledge 

 consist of an occasional record of the occur- 

 rence of some rare or unexpected bird. 

 This is all useful and interesting as far as 

 it goes, even if it does not go very far, but, 

 instead of being the end, it should be the 

 beginning of one's studies of bird-life. 



There remain a thousand subjects for in- 

 vestigation, so many, indeed, that we gen- 

 erally miss all our opportunities by failing 

 to concentrate on one of them. Mr. Jacobs, 

 however, is an exception. He has selected 

 a field for research and devoted himself to 

 it for several years. As a result he has 

 given us the best account of a Martin 

 colony which has as yet been published 

 (see Bird-Lore, V, p, 31), and he now 

 issues the most complete biography of the 

 Golden-winged Warbler extant. 



It does not follow that Mr. Jacobs has 

 enjoyed unusual opportunities for research. 

 His success is due rather to persistent effort 

 definitely directed ; and it is perfectly safe 

 to say that the same amount of attention 

 intelligently devoted to the study of even 



timey ourselves of an opportunity to study its 

 home-life. With but few exceptions our 

 collections contain sufficiently large series 

 of Warblers' eggs to permit of an adequate 

 description of their color, shape and size. 

 The value and novelty of Mr. Jacobs* 

 paper consists not in his descriptions of the 

 color and markings of the Golden-wing's 

 eggs, but in his account of its habits ; and we 

 cannot but feel that the latter would have 

 been better if his series of eggs had been 

 smaller.— F. M. C. 



Some New Facts About the Migration* 

 OF Birds. By W. W. Cooke. Year- 

 book of the Department of Agriculture for 

 1903, pages 371-386. 



Professor Cooke has not only devoted 

 many years to the study of bird migration 

 in the field, but as an assistant in the Bio- 

 logical Survey he has access to an un- 

 equaled amount of migration data, as the 

 readers of Bird-Lore have good reason to 

 know. His contributions, therefore, to the 

 literature of bird migration have an especial 

 value. The present paper is of such con- 

 centrated interest that we feel tempted to 

 follow the example of ' The Condor ' and 

 reprint it in full ; but we content ourselves 

 by urging our readers to secure a copy of 

 the September-October ' Condor ' in which 

 it appeared. 



The causes, casualties, distances, routes, 

 and speed of migration, how birds Hnd their 

 way, the relation of migration to tempera- 

 ture, and other significant phases of the 



the commonest species will yield equally subject are treated, and indicate the char- 



valuable returns. 



Mr. Jacobs treats at length of the haunts 

 of the Golden-wing, its migration, socia- 

 bility, nest-building, eggs, song, food and 

 young in so interesting and satisfactory a 

 manner that we commend his work to all 

 students who propose to join with us in the 

 preparation of our projected work on War- 

 blers. In only one particular would we 

 urge them not to follow his example. Do 

 not rob the bird of its eggs, and at the same 



(206) 



acter of the paper. 



''The beginnings of migration, ages 

 ago," Professor Cooke writes, "were in- 

 timately connected with periodic changes in 

 food supply, but this motive is at present so 

 intermingled with others unknown, or but 

 imperfectly known, that migration move- 

 ments seem now to bear little relation to the 

 abundance or absence of food." He be- 

 lieves in the existence of a "sense of direc- 

 tion," and states that "it is probable that 



