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Sierra Club Bulletin 



"The Bird Mr. Pearson has written a book of general interest. 

 Study Book"* He presupposes no knowledge of birds or of zoology ; 



nor does he attempt to identify species. His problem is 

 to treat the bird branch of our population in such a way that we shall 

 become conscious of their existence, their rights, their value to their 

 human neighbors, and their sufferings ; and he also describes the meth- 

 ods which are being employed to protect them from destruction. 



After describing the life of birds at different seasons of the year, he 

 gives a resume of the work which has been done in Economic Orni- 

 thology, especially by the Biological Survey. When one realizes that 

 injurious insects cause an annual loss of $60,000,000 to the cotton crop 

 in the United States, of $53,000,000 to hay, $2,000,000 to cereals, and 25 

 per cent to the crop of the market gardens, one understands why the 

 protection of birds has become a national problem. 



The Audubon Association, of which Mr. Pearson is secretary, is the 

 Bird's Red Cross Society, working for the relief of the wild feathered 

 population of our country. Largely through the efforts of the Audubon 

 Society workers, all but eight of the States have adopted the Audubon 

 law protecting non-game birds. The Federal Migratory Bird Law, be- 

 side protecting game birds, completed this campaign of the Audubon 

 Society by protecting song and insect-eating birds at all times, thus ex- 

 tending the work into States which had not adopted the Audubon law. 

 And in 1916, a treaty with Canada covering the provisions of the Mi- 

 gratory Bird Law was ratified by Congress. In addition to this pro- 

 tective legislation, the nation has set aside seventy bird reservations, and 

 the Audubon Society protects about 500,000 breeding water birds and 

 twenty heron colonies. 



A campaign of education is being carried on systematically through 

 the medium of the schools. Junior Audubon societies now number al- 

 most 600,000 members, and these members are being taught to know 

 and to protect the birds. ^^^^ ^^^^ 



"Mount Probably no other single mountain in the United States is 

 RAiNiER"t so worthy of having a volume devoted to it as Mount Rain- 

 ier. Not alone for its beauty does it stand supreme, but be- 

 cause around it centers so much of the early history of the Northwest. 

 In this very interesting volume it is the historical side that Professor 

 Meany has made paramount. In gathering together the personal narra- 

 tives of the explorers and climbers he has given the book much greater 

 value than in merely chronicling their attempts. Particularly vivid is 

 the story of the "First Attempted Ascent," by Lieutenant A. V. Kautz. 



* The Bird Study Book. By T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary National Association 

 of Audubon Societies. Illustrated with pen and ink drawings by Will Simmons, 

 and sixteen photographs. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1917. Price $1.25 net. 



t Mount Rainier. A Record of Exploration. Edited by Edmond S. Meany. The 

 Macmillan Company, New York. 1916. Pages, 325. Price, $2.50. 



