Nov., 1915 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
257 
seems to us that a cat which looked less like 
a ravenous lion and more like a demure 
pussy would better make us realize that it 
is not only the starving outcast which men- 
aces our bird-life hut also the purring 
feline by the hearthside. — H. W. Grinnell. 
Our Shorebirds and Their Future. By 
Wells W. Cooke, Assistant Biologist, Bu- 
reau of Biological Survey. [From Yearbook 
of Department of Agriculture for 1914, pp. 
275-294, pis. 21-23, figs. 16-18.] 
In this paper Professor Cooke sets forth 
accurately and forcibly the main facts and 
factors in the shorebird situation. The 
diminution which began to be noticeable in 
the seventies continued at an accelerated 
rate, owing to excessive shooting, until sev- 
eral once plentiful species were threatened 
with extermination, and one of them had 
actually become extinct. It is emphasized 
that this was the result of the poorest sort 
of business policy; for the sport value of 
our shorebirds is great, and with an ap- 
proach to former numbers should amount 
to vastly more. The recently enacted Fed- 
eral regulations give promise of relieving 
the stress put upon the birds by spring- 
shooting. But only time will show whether 
or not these regulations are sufficient to 
cause a definite return towards former num- 
bers. A slight improvement is thought by 
some to be already apparent. 
Of course, with such species as depended 
at one season or another upon territory now 
under close cultivation, no great revival can 
he expected. Thus the Upland Plover, 
Mountain Plover, and Long-billed Curlew 
have had their breeding grounds largely ap- 
propriated for wheat raising or dairying. 
On the other hand, the Wilson Snipe and 
Woodcock must rest their cases chiefly in 
the hands of the gunner, or rather, in the 
laws which govern the gunner; for there 
is yet plenty of land suited to summering 
and to wintering of these birds. 
There could be no better illustration of 
the practical application of purely scienti- 
fic knowledge, than in the present instance, 
where the proper treatment of a valuable 
National asset must rest upon the accumu- 
lation of facts in distribution and migration 
of birds. The worthy efforts of Professor 
Cooke and his co-workers in the United 
States Biological Survey to ascertain the 
facts of bird migration, and to solve the 
complex problems presented, have occupied 
years. Marked success has been achieved, 
enough of success to now warrant general- 
izations of great economic importance as 
well as of deep scientific value. But prob- 
lems remain, and vastly more facts must be 
garnered; nothing must be allowed to in- 
terrupt the course of these painstaking in- 
vestigations. 
The paper here noticed can be had for 
the asking; and because of the interest at- 
taching to its subject and the fascinating 
style in which this subject is treated, there 
is every reason why each Cooper Club mem- 
ber should possess himself of a copy, — and 
not only that, but profit by knowing every 
bit of its contents. — J. Grinnell. 
A Distributional List of the Birds of 
California, by Joseph Grinnell. (Pacific 
Coast Avifauna Number 11. Published by 
the Cooper Ornithological Club, October 21, 
1915. Pp. 1-217, 3 plates.) 
Every student of California birds, whether 
the amateur, painstakingly groping toward 
an acquaintance with the commoner spe- 
cies, or the advanced specialist in search of 
accurate information, will acclaim the ap- 
pearance of this publication as something 
greatly needed, and, as need hardly be said, 
exceptionally well done. Dr. Grinnell, both 
from his official position and personal pre- 
dilection, has been in a peculiarly advan- 
tageous situation for the production of this 
work, the activities of the museum of 
which he is the head being largely directed 
toward the accumulation of data relating 
to the distribution of California animals, 
while as editor of The Condor he is nat- 
urally in a favorable position for hearing 
of the discoveries of others. 
The real need of such a distributional 
list is shown in the exhaustion of the edi- 
tion of the same author’s “Check-List of 
California Birds” (Pacific Coast Avifauna 
No. 3), for which, though out of print sev- 
eral years, there are inquiries constantly 
received at the Cooper Club’s business of- 
fice. The present publication is an ampli- 
fication of the earlier “Check-List”, cover- 
ing no wider a scope, but treating the sub- 
ject with an elaboration of detail justified 
by the great accumulation of data since ac- 
quired. It treats purely of the distribution 
of species within the state of California, 
other phases, of life history or systematic 
status, being ignored save as incidental to 
the elucidation of ranges. 
Statements of distribution, more especi- 
ally of land birds, are made largely in terms 
of “life zones” and “faunal areas”, and the 
whole book, in the resulting conciseness of 
phrase and clear conveyance of ideas, is a 
striking justification, or rather exemplifi- 
cation, of the practical usefulness — the 
