206 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XII 
The scientific value of the present paper can- 
not be over-emphasized. We have here col- 
lected an enormous aggregation of authenti- 
cated records, indicating with far greater 
precision than anything publisht before the 
breeding and winter habitats and the routes of 
migration of the 85 recognized species of 
Limicolae known to occur in North America. 
The author is able from this mass of data to 
present many generalizations of remarkable 
interest and wide significance. 
The more important of these conclusions are 
that many waders pursue an annual course of 
migration in the path of an ellipse, returning 
north by an entirely different and remote route 
from that traverst on the southern journey; 
that some species lengthen their migratory 
travels so that they are carried 7000 or even 
9000 miles from their breeding grounds, mak- 
ing their winter homes in extreme southern 
South America; that certain species make sin- 
gle flights without resting of at least 2000 
miles. 
Gunners are held responsible for a large part 
of the decrease in the numbers of our shorebirds; 
and yet other causes are operative, some of 
which it is probably not practicable to remove. 
The Eskimo Curlew altho formerly abundant 
in fall on the New England coast and in spring- 
thru the Mississippi Valley is rapidly approach- 
ing extinction, if indeed any still exist. A 
simple explanation of this, offered by Profes- 
sor Cooke, is that during recent years the for- 
mer winter home of the Eskimo Curlew, in 
Argentina, has been settled and cultivated, 
while its spring feeding grounds in Nebraska 
and South Dakota have been converted into 
farm land. This same cause is doutless the 
chief basis for the change in numbers of many 
of onr birds. 
Of local interest to Californians is the prob- 
ably unique migration route taken by those 
Mountain Plover which winter in the Sacra- 
mento Valley and southward into the San 
Diegan district. "The farthest west and north 
that the species is known to breed is Montana; 
hence whether the California wintering birds 
come from Montana or from the more southern 
districts, the}- apparently form an exception to 
the general rule that North American birds do 
not winter farther west than they breed." 
A bird new to California, here for the first 
time recorded, is the Upland Plover, a speci- 
men of which was taken by Vernon Bailey at 
Tnle Lake, August 8, 1896. — J. Grinnell. 
Notes on New England Birds, By Henry 
1). Thoreau; arranged and edited by Francis 
11. Allen, with eleven illustrations from pho- 
tographs of birds in nature and a map of Con- 
cord, Mass., showing localities mentioned 
by Thoreau in his Journal. Houghton Mif- 
flin Company, Boston, 1910, pp. ix + 452; price 
81.75 net. 
"Scattered through the fourteen volumes of 
Thoreau’s published Journal are many inter- 
esting notes on the natural history of New 
England and a large proportion of these relate 
to birds. In the belief that readers and 
students would be glad to have these bird 
notes arranged systematically in a single vol- 
ume, this book has been prepared. * s * * 
It was, indeed, as a describer rather than as an 
observer that Thoreau excelled. He never 
acquired much skill in the diagnosis of birds 
seen in the field. He never became in any re- 
spect an expert ornithologist, and some of the 
reasons are not far to seek. He was too intent 
on becoming an expert analogist, for one thing. 
It better suited his genius to trace some anal- 
ogy between the soaring hawk and his own 
thoughts than to make a scientific study of the 
bird. Moreover his field, including as it did 
all nature, was too wide to admit of specializa- 
tion in a single branch.” 
These words from the editor’s preface ex- 
plain fully the nature and scope of this book. 
These are not the complete records from the 
Journal , but only "those seeming to have 
some intrinsic value, whether literary or scien- 
tific — using both terms in a liberal sense." 
The notes were made between the years 
1845 and 1860, principally between 1853 and the 
latter date, ami cover some 115 species, besides 
general and miscellaneous notes (species un- 
identified). 
It is an interesting contribution to the liter- 
ary side of ornithology and should have some 
value to the student also. — II. T. Clifton. 
A | Monograph | of the | Petrels | (Or- 
der Tubinares). | By | Frederick du Cane 
Godman | D. C. I.. E. R. S. | President of 
the Britisli Ornithologists’ Union | With hand- 
coloured Plates | by J. G. Keulemans | Witlier- 
by & Co. | 326 High Holborn London | 1907- 
1910. Large 4to (10x13 inches), pp. i-lvi, 
1-381, col. pll. 1-103. Price complete, bound, 
fifteen guineas. 
Part V of this work reacht us the last of May 
(1910), and brings to a wholly satisfactory 
conclusion the undertaking so elaborately 
begun four years ago. (See reviews in this 
magazine for 1908, p. 96, 1909, p. 72.) Part V 
comprises the remainder of the Tubinares not 
previously treated, namely, the albatrosses. 
Also: the full title page for the whole work 
(given above); the Preface; Introduction; chap- 
ter "On the Systematic Position of the Petrels”, 
by W. I’. Pycraft; Systematic List of Species; 
List of Plates; Classification; Index. — J. G. 
Life of | William MacGillivray | [etc., 
3 lines] | By William MacGillivray, w. s. 
| Author of “Rob Lindsay and His School, ” etc. 
| With a Scientific Appreciation | By J. Arthur 
Thompson | [etc., 1 line] | with illustrations | 
[quotation] | London | John Murray, Albe- 
marle Street, W. | 1910; Svo., pp. i-xvi, 1-222, 
12 plates. Price 10 | 6. 
Those who find interest in historical bio- 
graphy will undoutedly obtain much 
plesure by reading the life of MacGil- 
livray, the full title of which is given above. 
It was MacGillivray, a Scotchman, that Audu- 
bon secured to help him ivrite the technical 
portions of his Ornithological Biography. The 
name is familiar to even the youngest students 
of American birds thru its being borne by at 
least two of our birds, a warbler and a sparrow. 
The book in hand tells among other things of 
the felicitous cooperation maintained between 
two men for nine years, the time occupied in 
