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 34 Bird- Lore

birds of North and Middle America that we trust the day is not distant when its author

will complete his monumental undertaking. —F. M. C.

PROCEEDXNGS or THE NEBRASKA ORNITHoL- ocus‘r's‘ UNroN AT rrs SECOND ANNUAL MEETING, OMAHA, JAN. 12. r901. Svo. Pages rm, plates x.

The Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union ntrmbers .t honorary, 63 active. and 36 associate members. The ofﬁcers are: President, I. S. Trostler; vice»president, Caroline Stringer; recording secretary, E. H. Barbour; corresponding secretary, R. H. Walcott, Lincoln. Nel)r.; treasurer, Lawrence Brunet. The organization con- tains a number of well—known ornitholo— gists, whose diversified interests in the study of birds resulted in the presentation of the following unusually attractive list of papers at their second annual meeting: Presidents' Address—Ornithology in Nebraska, and State Ornithological Societies. I. S. 'I‘Ros'r- LER; Birds in Their Relation to Agricul- ture, LAWRENCE BRUNER; Injuriotts Traits of the Blue Jay, E. D. HowE; Ornithology in the Schools, WILSON TOUT; Birds as Objects of Study in the Grades, CHAS. FoR- uvcs; Nest of the Ruby—throated Humming— bird (llls.), F. H. SHOEMAKER; Young Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Ills.), ELIZA- EETH VAN SANT; Breeding of the Prothono» tary \Varhler, and Observations on Traill's Flycatcher, M. A. CARRIKER, Jr.; Breed~ ing Habits of Bells Vireo, MERRrT't‘ CARY; Notes Regarding a Chimney Swift Tree illls.), I. S. TrtosrLER; Birds That Nest in Nebraska, LAWRENCE BRUNER; A Pecu- liar Disease Df Bird’s Feet (Ills). E. H. BaRaotJR: Internal Parasites of Nebraska Birds, HENRY B. WARD; Changes in the Bird Fauna of the Prairies, L. SESSIONS; Birds of Northwestern Nebraska, J. M. BATES; Collecting Trip to Sioux County, J. C. CRAWFORD, Jr.; Collecting Trip in Cherry County, J. S. HUNTER: Birds From Western Nebraska, A. R. GRAVES; Migra- tion Records and Nebraska Records, R. H. WOLCOTT; In Memoriam: Martin Luther Eaton, R. H. WOLCOTT; Miscellaneous Notes—F. M. C.

lers or THE HUNTED. Containing a True Account of the Doings of Five Quadru-

peds and Three Birds. By ERNEST SETON-THOMPSUN. Charles Scribner’s Sons, root. Pages 360. Drawings 200. Price $t.75.

Thtee of the seven stories contained in this book relate to birds; they are entitled: ‘A Street Troubador; Being the Adven~ tures of a Cock Sparrow.’ ‘The Mother Teal and the Overland Route,’ and ‘ Why the Chickadee Goes Crazy Once a Year.‘ The last is inserted as an example of the author‘s early work and is "true only in its underlying facts;" the account of the Blue- winged Teal and her brood is based on per- sonal observation: the history of the House Sparrow is founded on known facts in the life-history of the species. We should, how- ever, question here the alleged change in the bird's nestebuilding instincts. So far as ex~ periment and observation go a bird inherits its ability to construct a certain kind of nest, and this instinct is not aﬁected by its being reared under artiﬁcial conditions.

Mr. Seton's phenomenal success ,has brought him a host of imitators, few of whom were ever heard of before they entered the ﬁeld as his emulators. Between him and them, however, there exists a wide difference. Ernest Seton is a born naturalist. With unusually keen powers of observation and a broadly human sympathy with animal life, he has the scientist’s longing to know. Twenty~ﬁve years before he became known to fame he was studying and recording the ways of birds and beasts. Nearly twenty years before the publication of ‘ Wild Ani- malsl Have Known ’ he was contributing to scientiﬁc journals. His popularity, there— fore, rests on no slight foundation, but it is the natural result of the development of a marked literary ability which has made it possible for him to express in words what he sees and feels— F. M. C.

ELEMENTARY ZOOLOGY. By VERNoN KEL- LOGG, Professor of Entomology, Leland Stanford junior University. New York. Henry Holt 8: Co. 1901. r2mo. Pages xv +492; numerous illustrations.

In the forty-six pages devoted to birds in this book much of interest will be found in regard to methods of study. structure and