Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/222

 Book News and Reviews

In the matter of illustrations the pub- lishers have been both liberal and discrimi- nating, securing two well-equipped artists and reproducing their work in a thoroughly The photographs of typical scenes are rendered extremely in- structive by detailed captions explanatory of their signiﬁcance and naming the birds characteristic of the

satisfactory manner.

locality depicted.7

F. M. C. BIRDS or THF. CAPE REGION OF LOWER CALIFORNIA, By WILLIAM BREWSTER.

Bull. Musi Comp. Zoola, XLI, No. I,

1902. 24! pages: 1 map.

Based primarily on the ﬁeld-work and col- lections of Mr. M. Abbott Frazar. who was sent by Mr. Brewster to the Cape Region. this book also whatever it has seemed desirable to quote from the publicav tions of previous authors, and it therefore forms a complete exposition of our knowl- edge at the bird-life of the region to which it relates. It is prepared with the care and attention to detail which characterizes all its author‘s published writings and at once takes its place among the standard treatises on faunal ornithology.

After deﬁning the limits of the Coast Region and presenting a narrative of Mr. Frazar‘s explorations, the I67 species and 88 subspecies known from the Cape Region are treated at length of this number 36 species and subspecies are here recorded from the Cape Region for the ﬁrst time; while Mr. Frazar's activity in the ﬁeld yielded 3 new species and r2 new subspe- cies, 3 of whichI with a new Screech Owl, are described in this important paper,—

F. M. C.

BIRDS OF THE HAWAIIAN isl.ANl)S, W. HENSHAWa lishcr. Iamo.

includes

Bx‘ H. Thos. Ga Thrnm, Pub- Honoltllu, H. T. Price, 3|. I46 pages: I plate.

Readers of BIRD- LORE will recall Mr. Henshaw's interesting papers on Hawaiian birds published in this magazine in I9or, and will be glad to learn that this author has placed in accessible form the results of his wide experience with Hawaiian birds. including, also, the better part of that which

has been recorded by other workers aniong‘

these islands.

20]

In an admirable introduction of 28 pages the peculiar conditions aﬁecring Hawaiian bird-life, its origin, the iaunal zones of the island. etc,, are discussed, and the 125 birds native to the islands are then described, under each species being given the knou-n facts in its history as a Hawaiian hirrl; we have here, therefore, a complete text»book of the Hawaiian avifanna.

Ten species of birds have been successfully introduced into the islands, among them the Skylark. and it is most instructive to observe with what facility most of these birds appear to have established themselves.

Lack of space prevents a more extended notice of this important contribution to the literature of Ornithology and islandJife. American ornithologists will now feel that their loss, when Mr, Henshaw left this country to take up his residence in Haw was at least sustained in a good causei F. Mr C.

The Ornithological Magazines

THE AuK.—In the October ‘Auk' will be found two papers on West Indian birds, on: the conclusion of a list of 'Tlle Birds of the lslantl of Carriacou.‘ by I. 0. Wells. the other a similar list of ‘Birds of Porto Rico.‘ by B. S. Bowdish, to he continued. Both are pleasantly annotated. A paper also worthy of consideration is by R. E. Snodgrass, on "I‘he Relation of the Food to the Size antl Shape of the Bill in the Galapagm, Genus Czar/Iiza.’ There are plates and tables of the seeds tound in 209 specimens of about a dozen species of the genus, and we forced to the conclusion that all the species of Gmrpiza eat simply whatever seeds are accessible to them," The evidence indicates that "there is no correlation between the food and the size and shape of the bill."

Under the title of ‘ A New Long-billed Marsh Wren from Eastern North America.‘ 0. Bangs puts in the stlbspec splits the inland fresh-water bild irom the dweller oi the salt-marshes. We will hope that salt has been put upon the right tail in catching the subspecies. "l‘he Nomencla- ture and Validity of Certain North Amerh ran Gallinz‘ ‘ is a defense by E. \X’. Nelson

read "that one is almost

wedge and