eggs, that injure the trees and baffle the efforts of man for their extermination.
In both papers we are shown the unpoetical but useful side of bird-life. These two confiding little birds have endeared themselves to their human neighbors by their gentle ways and familiar habits; but in these papers Dr. Weed has shown us that they should be no less dear to us when viewed entirely from an economic standpoint. We hope he will give us more of this kind of literature. — F. E. L. Beal.
This list forms a part—pages 13-55 of the ' Preliminary Catalogue of the Collections of Natural History and Ethnology in the Provincial Museum.' It enumerates 339 species and subspecies, with notes on their distribution, and will prove exceedingly useful to students of the bird-life of this interesting region, for a knowledge of the fauna of which we are so greatly indebted to Mr. Fannin.—F. M. C.
The author here presents the more important results of ten years’ observation, including also such information as he has gathered from other naturalists concerning the 187 species recorded from the region of which he writes. Mr. Dearborn’s notes, we are glad to say, are not restricted solely to statements concerning the rarity or abundance and manner of occurrence of a given species, but often contain valuable remarks on habits which show him to be a discriminating student of the living bird.—F. M. C.
Book News
The origin of the present widespread interest in ornithology is so largely due to the influence of Dr. Coues classic ' Key to North American Birds,' that we are sure bird students throughout the world will welcome the news that its author is engaged in a thorough revision of his epoch-making work. The new edition, which will be expanded to fill two volumes, will be richly illustrated by Mr. Fuertes, and while the advance made in the science of ornithology in the fifteen years which have elapsed since the publication of the second edition naturally leads us to expect some improvement in this forthcoming edition, our credibility in the powers of human achievement is severely taxed when Dr. Coues asks us to believe that the new ' Key ' will be as far ahead of the second as the second was beyond the first.
The Wisconsin ' Arbor and Bird Day Annual ' for 1899, issued by L. D. Harvey, State Superintendent of Public Instruction (Madison, Wis.), is a most attractive and useful pamphlet of forty-five pages, containing original and selected contributions well suited to interest and instruct children in both the value and beauty of trees and birds. It may well stand as a model for publications of this nature.
D. C. Heath & Co. have in preparation an elementary bird book by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm. The book is designed for use as a supplementary science reader, and it is the author’s object to teach children what to see and how to see it; and, at the same time, to provide them with something to do.
The May issue of ' Primary Education ' (Educational Publishing Co.) is a ' Bird Day Number,' and contains numerous contributions of value to teachers and students of birds.
' Our Dumb Animals,' the vigorously edited organ of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says of Bird-Lore: “ We recommend this publication to ex-Presidents Cleveland and Harrison. It would have much interested President Lincoln.”
' By the Way-Side ' is the name of a bright little four-page bi-weekly issued by Helen M. Boynton, 118 Michigan, street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at one cent a copy. It is devoted to “ birds, butterflies, trees, flowers, insects and fishes ”, and deserves the support of everyone interested in popularizing the study of these subjects.
