45 THe; CONDOR Vol. XX ing in November, 1917. As recently pointed out by Dr. T. S. Palmer (CONDOR, XIX, Sept. 1917, p. 166), Mr. Belding had attained a greater age than any other American ornith- ologist, but it was with ironic swiftness that his death followed this congratulatory com- ment. An account of Mr. Belding's life and his ornithological work will be published in T?E CO.?DOR. Mr. John Lewis Childs lms recently pub- lished in attractive form a catalog of his library of North American natural history. Ornithology alone comprises no less than thirty-five pages of titles. Among these we note the presence of many complete sets of periodicals now rare, and of many scarce volumes--comprising what certainly must be one of the few large private libraries 'in the United States. PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED REPORT O1? FIELO-WORK IN OKANAUAN AND SHUSWAP DISTRICTS, 1916. 'By J. A. MUNRO. (Report of the Provincial Museum of Nat- ural History for the year 1916, Victoria, British Columbia, March, 1917, pp. 12-18.) During the summer of 1916 field work was carried on by the Provincial Museum in the Okanagan and Shuswap districts of south- ern British Columbia. This report gives brief statements of conditions at the several points visited (Nahun Plateau, Swan Lake, Shuswap District, and Kettle River' Dis- trict), with lists of the birds found breeding at each place. Following the summary of the season's work is a briefly annotated list covering "some of the ornithological notes made during the past two years", presuma- bly from the same general region, though in many ca?es no localities are given for the species mentioned. The locality -lists include a variety of spe- cies and subspecies that is probably indica- tive of the diversified nature of the regions explored, forms elsewhere representative of different life zones and faunal areas being listed side by side. In some cases there is probable misidentification of closely related subspecies, and, indeed, we gather from the context that certain determinations are merely tentative; but, even making such al- lowances, the collections give evidence of the complex nature of the fauna of the re- gion, one worthy of the most careful scruti- ny by the favorably situated student of geo- graphical dlstribution.--H. S. SWARTH. THE [ BIRD STUDY BOOK [ by. [ T. GILBERT PEARSON I Secretary. National Association I of Audubon Societies I [Vignette] I Colored frontispiece I Pen and ink drawings by ] Will Simmons I and sixteen photographs I Garden City New York I Doubleday, Page & Company I 1917 (our copy received March 22); 258 pp., illus. (as above). Price $1.25. A list of the heading s for the twelve chap- ters which this book contains will serve to convey a fair idea of its contents. These titles are: First acquaintance with the birds; the life about the nest; ?lomestic life of the birds; the migration of birds; birds in win- ter; the economic value of birds; civlliza- tion's effect on the bird supply; the traffic in feathers; bird protective laws and their enforcement .... how laws are made; bird reservations; making bird sanctuaries; teaching bird study. Because of Mr. Pearso?i's long connection with the National Association of Audubon Societies it is only natural that his greatest interest lies in the educational and economic value of birds and in the subject of their protection rather than in the scientific as- pects of ornithology. The Bird Study Boot? thus reflects the "Audubon attitude" in marked degree.
There is much that is stimulating in the
pages of this book and it is written for the most part in entertaining style. Yet the re- viewer has found it disappointing where it ?might have been most helpful? It is obvi- ous that the facts set forth have been gath- ered from a variety of sources and are in but small part the results of the author's own study. Yet in many cases no clew whatever is given as to the source of quoted information. While in other instances, as in the list of numbers of birds recorded from the different states, though author and year are given [for example: "Alabama, 275 (Oberholser, 1909)"], there is no way by which the reader can locate the citation. The book under consideration will be prized by the reader for whom it is intend- ed, by reason of the number and interest of the facts it sets forth but not for its liter- ary qualities. This last comment will be understood by examining the following sam- ple paragraph (p. 166): "The call for feath- er finery rings so loudly in the hearts of women that i't will probably never cease to be heard, and it is the Ostrich--the big, un- gainly yet graceful Ostrich--which must supply the demand for high-grade feathers of the future"[!].--H. W. GRINNELL.
