Book News and Reviews 



207 



this faculty is exerciseil tlurinfj migration." 

 He repudiates the current belief that coast 

 lines, mountain chains, and river courses 

 form well-marked highways of migration, 

 and says, "the truth seems to be that 

 birds pay little attention to natural physical 

 highways, except when large bodies of 

 water force them to deviate from the desired 

 course." The existence of a much - fre- 

 quented migratory route from Florida to 

 Cuba, and thence westward to Yucatan, is 

 denied, it being stated that, as a matter of 

 fact, most birds cross the Gulf of Mexico 

 directly to Yucitan and Mexico. 



Particularly valuable is that portion of 

 Professor Cooke's paper devoted to the vari- 

 ations in the speed of migration, in which it 

 is shown that with certain species "the 

 speed increases as the birds move northward, 

 because the advance of the seasons is more 

 rapid in the northern interior than on and 

 near the southern coast." 



In regard to the alleged disappearance of 

 the Chimney Swift after leaving the shores 

 of the Gulf States, the British Museum 

 Catalogue (xvi, p. 481) lists specimens of 

 this species from Jalapa, Yucatan and 

 Guatemala.— F. M. C. 



A Preliminary Review of the Birds of 

 Nebraska. With Synopses. By Law- 

 rence Bruner, Robert H.Walcott and 

 Myron H. Swenk. 8vo. 125 pages. 

 Klopp& Bartlett Co., Omaha, Neb. 



This list becomes at once the authorita- 

 tive, standard faunal paper on Nebraska 

 birds. The annotations are detailed and 

 satisfactorily definite, while the introduction 

 of analytical keys makes the work, in a 

 measure, a text-book from which one may 

 learn not only a bird's status but its name. 

 . Professor Bruner's introductory paper on 

 ' Birds in Relation to Agriculture and 

 Horticulture,' gives due prominence to this 

 side of ornithological research, and empha- 

 sizes the importance of the work of economic 

 ornithologists. — F. M. C. 



Catalogue of British Columbia Birds. 

 By Francis Kermonde. Provincial Mu- 

 seum, Victoria, B. C. 8vo. 69 pages. 



This paper will replace Fannin's 'Check- 

 List of British Columbia Birds,' to which 



it adds 24 species, making a total of 363 

 species and subspecies which have now 

 been recorded from British Columbia. — 

 F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



Lhe Auk. — The October Auk' opens ( 

 with a sketch of 'A Fortnight on the Farra- 

 lones' by Milton S. Ray, and, although this 

 bird colony has been the theme of many 

 another pen, Mr. Ray's delightful descrip- 

 tions and striking photographs are a wel- 

 come addition to the literature of the island. 



Some additions to Mitchell's list of birds 

 of New Mexico are made by Florence M. 

 Bailey, and the balance of the magazine is 

 devoted to birds of the South. Mr. R. VV. 

 Williams presents 'A Preliminary List of 

 the Birds of Leon County, Florida,' Chas. 

 R. Stockard writes on the 'Nesting Habits 

 of the Woodpeckers and Vultures of .Mis- 

 sissippi,' and Andrew Allison offers an 

 annotated list of 'The Birds of West Baton 

 Rouge Parish, Louisiana.' 



We notice that Mr. Williams states that 

 the male Red-winged Blackbird assumes, in 

 winter, the plumage of the female. He 

 has evidently mistaken the young males for 

 females and not seen the black adults with 

 the red shoulder-patches. This raises the 

 question, Where have the adults betaken 

 themselves,? for they are certainly conspic- 

 uous enough not to escape notice. 



Notes, reviews and index carry the total 

 number of pages for the year up to 531, the 

 largest volume ever put in the hands of 

 members of the A. O. U. The year 1903 

 will be memorable for the first discovery, in 

 Michigan, of the nest of Kirtland's War- 

 bler, to which reference is made at page 506. 

 It is to be regretted that the original record 

 did not find its way into the 'Auk,' but at 

 page 487 Edward Arnold records from the 

 same locality another nest taken in 1904. — 

 J. D.,Jr. 



The Condor. — Since our last review two 

 numbers of 'The Condor' have appeared, 

 both replete with interesting notes and news. 

 In the July - August number Mrs. Bailey 

 describes her experience with ' A Dusky 

 Grouse and Her Brood in New Mexico,' 



