May, 1914 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWKI) 
151 
none has shown such exhaustive research 
along so many lines as the present. The 
Gannet, a conspicuous element in the pela- 
gic avifauna of the North Atlantic, is here- 
in dealt with by the eminent British ornith- 
ologist, J. H. Gurney. Many years of pains- 
taking observation and bibliographic re- 
search are evidenced, and the result is ren- 
dered of the utmost interest as well as sci- 
entific value by an ingratiating literary 
style. 
The student of North American birds 
finds the present book to approach much 
nearer his own field of interest than most 
volumes publ'ished abroad. For the Gannet 
ranges in summer, though rather restrict- 
edly, along the northeastern shores of 
North America. The life history data in the 
present volume, however, although includ- 
ing practically everything known in regard 
to the bird in America, is chiefly based on 
its occurrence and history around the Brit- 
ish Islands. 
The reader will get an idea of the range 
of treatment from the following subjects 
suggested in chapter headings; names of 
the gannet; distribution; estimated num- 
ber of gannets; nidification and incubation; 
the nestling; food and fishing; flight; mor- 
tality; gannets as food; plumage; osteol- 
ogy; parasites; historic and pre-historic. 
There is thus a great deal of matter per- 
taining to subjects of general interest out- 
side of the bird under special considera- 
tion. 
Mr. Gurney estimates the total number of 
Gannets (Sula hassana) now existing, at 
101.000. Incidentally, the most abundant 
sea-bird of the North Atlantic is considered 
by him to be the Puffin (Fratercula arc- 
tica) which is to be numbered by the mil- 
lion — for instance, three million on St. 
Kilda alone; also 235,000 Puffins were an- 
nually gathered on the Faeroes up to the 
time when these birds became less esteemed 
for food. Yet only one egg is laid. 
As furnishing further basis for estimating 
bird populations, some data is quoted as to 
numbers of birds marketed in various Euro- 
pean cities. For example, 404,000 Skylarks 
were brought into Leipzig in one month. In 
Paris, alone, 1,419,891 Skylarks were sold in 
1898; in 1909 the number had dropped to 
355.000. The marvel in all these cases is as 
to the wonderful productivity of birds where 
conditions of food and climate are favorable, 
so that the enormous drafts upon their 
numbers by man are, for long periods, near- 
ly or quite offset. 
The Gannet, a bird of slowest breeding 
rate, was levied upon for hundreds of years 
by people living adjacent to their colonies. 
As many as 28,300 annually, nine-tenths of 
them young, were formerly so appropriated 
around Great Britain. Small colonies of the 
birds have disappeared, but the more favor- 
ably situated nesting places held their own 
to a remarkable degree. With decreasing 
value of the young birds for food and feath- 
ers, and with governmental protection 
afforded against wanton destruction, the 
Gannet is now on the increase. The prob- 
lems confronting the game conservationist 
here in California would doubtless be great- 
ly aided in solution by a study of the his- 
tory of the Gannet. 
To Mr. Gurney we owe much for adding 
to our literature this most valuable and fas- 
cinatingly readable bird book. — J. Gbinneix. 
Foul! New Bikds eroiu NewI'Ounde.xxi). By 
Harkv C. Obekiiolseb. (Proceedings of the 
Biological Society of Washington, vol. xxvii, 
March 20, 1914, pp. 43-54.) 
The forms here named and characterized 
are Dryohates puhescens microleucus. Bubo 
virginianus neocliorus. Perisoreus canaden- 
.',is sunfordi, and Pinicola ejiucleator escha- 
tosus. the first cbnfined to the island of 
Newfoundland, the others occuring also on 
nearby parts of the North American main- 
land. From Mr. Oberholser’s study of the 
collection containing these birds, as well as 
from other work recently done in the same 
region, it would seem that Newfoundland 
is possessed of a fairly distinctive endemic 
fauna, and one containing certain points of 
decided interest. The Hairy and Downy 
woodpeckers of the island are both shown 
to have developed characters markedly at 
variance from those possessed by the re- 
lated forms of the adjacent mainland, giv- 
ing them a superficial resemblance to cer- 
tain races from remote parts of western 
North America. The Newfoundland Pine 
Grosbeak is described as having assumed 
characters similar to those distinguishing 
the recently described Newfoundland Cross- 
bill, Loxia curvirostra percna Bent, an in- 
teresting instance of parallel development. 
Altogether, from the preliminary and rather 
disconnected studies so far made, it would 
seem that Newfoundland offers a most 
promising field for careful, systematic re- 
search, such as has not yet been accorded 
it. 
Mr. Oberholser’s treatment of the forms 
described in the present paper is gratify- 
ing alike in the explicitness and attention 
to detail shown by the characterizations, 
and in the pertinence and suggestiveness of 
his general remarks; statements, however, 
that can as truthfully be made of nearly all 
his systematic work. — H. S. Swabth. 
