Page:Howard's 'Territory in Bird Life.' - Witmer Stone - The Auk, 38(2) - P0288-p0290.pdf/3

290 connection with song he emphasizes the absolute necessity for a "specific" character in the song of every individual of a given species if it is to serve as a guide to the female of that species in finding a mate. This is I think a statement with which all students of bird song will agree, for while the keen ear may be able to recognize a number of individual songs in any species, they all have the specific quality so developed that there is never a question as to what species is singing. We fail, however, to harmonize with this Mr. Howard's claim of mimicry in so many British birds as the Jay, Wood Owl, Red-backed Shrike, and various Warblers. Surely there is no such wide-spread mocking among American birds and we are led to wonder whether many cases of alleged mimicry are not mere fancied resemblances. If mimicry exists to such an extent it would seem to be a serious hindrance to the development of a specific song.

In Mr. Howard's discussion of migration he makes no mention of Dr. Watson's experiments with the Terns of the Dry Tortugas and in other connections seems to be quite unacquainted with the American literature bearing upon his subject. Americans however cannot afford to remain ignorant of Mr. Howard's interesting work—interesting alike to the student engaged in research along similar lines and to the general reader who appreciates a fascinating discussion of some of the deeper problems of ornithology.

The beautifully drawn plates represent spirited contests between individuals of various species of British birds, a phase of bird behaviour which takes on a great deal of interest in connection with Mr. Howard's theory and which seems to have been much neglected and but poorly understood in the past.—W.S. Saunders' Distributional List of the Birds of Montana.'—In this admirable publication Mr. Saunders presents us with the first comprehensive list of the birds of Montana and at once places the ornithology of the state on a firm foundation. His list is up to date in every respect, consisting of an introduction, a discussion of distributional areas in which life zones and forest associations and their characteristic birds are considered; a fully annotated list of 332 species (with additional lists of extinct, introduced and hypothetical species) and a bibliography. In the introduction he apologizes for the fact that the present list cannot compare in completeness with those of most of the other western states because there are as yet scarcely any resident ornithologists in Montana, little collecting has been done, and there are almost no series of specimens, while for many sections scarcely any data are available. It may however