Jan., 1913 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
47 
drop the worker after crushing it in their bill 
to get the honey. 
In the examination of 3,398 stomachs of fly- 
catchers the animal food was found to aver- 
age 94.99 per cent and the vegetable 5.1 per 
cent. The presence of a considerable percent- 
age of parasitic Hynienoptera in the stomachs 
of flycatchers appears to be the one thing that 
makes their service questionable. However, 
“weighing as impartially as possible the in- 
juries d 9 ne and the benefits conferred by 
them, their good qualities outweigh the bad.’’ 
The tables giving a summary of the results 
of the stomach examinations furnish an in- 
teresting comparison of the food of the dif- 
erent species. The long lists of identified in- 
sects show careful and painstaking work. Al- 
though these lists may be overlooked by most 
of the farmers reading the bulletin, they give 
the publication a more permanent value than 
it would otherwise have. — H. C. Bryant. 
A History of the Game Birds, Wild-Fovvi. 
AND Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Ad- 
jacent States, by Edward Howe Forbush, 
State Ornithologist of Massachusetts. (Is- 
sued by the Massachusetts State Board of 
Agriculture.) 1912; 8 vo, pp. xvi-j-622, 36 pis., 
26 figs. 
Of great immediate, practical use in the 
swelling campaign against the extermination 
of American game animals, the book under 
notice deserves warmest commendation. Its 
purpose is admirably realized in the scientifi- 
cally accurate tenor of treatment throughout, 
combined with the logical and convincing 
sequence of the subjects as presented. 
Here we find just the information needed 
in regard to the history and in some cases 
direful fate of Atlantic Coast game birds, and 
from which lessons can be drawn as to how 
not to treat our Pacific Coast birds. It is too 
bad that it is impracticable to secure wide dis- 
tribution in the west, of Mr. Forbush’s work, 
because of the limited edition and local de- 
mands for it. If sportsmen and legislators 
could but acquire some of the knowledge 
therein made so clear, a long step would have 
been taken towards securing proper treatment 
of our game before it is too late. 
It is not possible to adequately describe tbe 
book in its numerous useful details, in our 
limited space ; but some of our readers may 
be interested to know that, as long as they 
last, copies can be purchased at bare cost price 
plus postage ($1.40 in all) by addressing the 
Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, 
136 State House, Boston, Mass. — J. Grinnf.ll. 
The Phylogenetic Value of Color Char- 
acters IN Birds. By Witmer Stone, A. M. 
(Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2nd ser., xv, 
Dec. 4, 1912, pp. 313-319, pi. 27). 
This brief paper is a multiim in parvo of 
first-grade philosophic ornithology. We have 
of late heard a great deal about the meaning 
of coloration. Mr. Stone recalls the reader’s 
attention from the various concealing and 
direct-action-of-environment theories, and in 
vites him to consider some facts more easily 
explained upon grounds of directive or phylo- 
genetic significance. 
Whole groups — genera and even families — 
of birds possess certain color patterns which 
occur but slightly modified throughout their 
members. Other features come and go, but 
a certain color pattern may persist, to no ap- 
parent adaptive purpose. Such a feature 
surely does show community of descent as 
much as, and in certain cases, more than does 
position of nostril or proportions of man 
dibles. 
Attention is called to the over-emphasis 
often given such “structural” characters as 
compared with color features, this undue em- 
phasis to be observed in parts of our mod- 
ern schemes of classification. In some cases 
it is shown that color features prove more 
dependable taxonomically than the structural 
characters currently recognized. But the 
author refrains in this paper from any spe- 
cific attempt at revising classification. 
Mr. Stone shows convincingly that an ex- 
tremely promising line of investigation awaits 
the student who will make a special study of 
the colors and color-patterns of birds, with 
problems of genetic relationship in view. The 
reviewer is not, however, quite ready to agree 
with Mr. Stone that there is more need of 
search in the direction of resemblances than 
in that of minute differences. Both are of 
great value, and equally important, though 
not necessarily of the same sort of mean- 
ing. The well-balanced student will neglect 
neither. — J. Grinnell. 
The Experimental Method of Testing 
THE Efficiency of Warning and Cryptic 
Coloration in Protecting Animals from 
Their Enemies. By W. L- McAtee (Proc. 
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., lxiv, September 6, 
1912, pp. 281-364). 
This work, reviewing critically the litera- 
ture of such experimentation, is indispensable 
to students of protective coloration. The 
main point emphasized, backed up by abun- 
dant evidence, is the danger of drawing con- 
clusions from experiments upon animals in 
captivity, unless the results are carefully 
compared with what is known about the hab- 
its of the same animals under natural con- 
ditions. The evidence seems conclusive that 
animals in captivity do not re-act to the stimu- 
