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76 Bird -Lore effective manner the relative abimdaiice of, and season of occurrence, of the species treated, and is well worthy of imitation. The annotated list tells of a species ' manner of occurrence, and the character of the ground in which it is found. The author's long experience in the region and thorough grasp of his subject makes his work authoritative. The diversity of views, however, in regard to the breeding Shrike of Western New York has led him into the error of including both the Loggerhead and White- Rumped Shrikes. Doubtless the best way out of this difficulty is to accept Mr. Palmer's name of migrans for the intermediate New York and New England form. The hypothetical list would be improved by the exclusion of the Man-o'-War Bird, Masked Duck, Corn Crake, European Woodcock, Burrowing Owl and other species whose occurrence would be wholly accidental. These criticisms are of minor importance, and the list will at once take its place as a standard treatise on the birds of the region covered. — F. M. C. A Year Book of Kentucky Woods and Fields. By Ingram Crockett. Illus- trated by the author. Buffalo. Charles Wells Moulton, 1901. i6mo, pp. 112; 4 full -page plates. The rise and fall of a Kentucky year ar^ here graphically depicted in twelve prose poems, one for each month. Fhe author is evidently a passionate nature lover — earth, air, and water and all that in them is, ap- peal to him; but from the first bird note of spring to the last one of autumn, it is the songs of birds more than anything else that echo through his pages. We welcome this book from the south. Would that more of her sons were moved to tell the world of the beauties of their native land. — F. M. C. Pacific Coast Avifauna, No. i. Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska. By Joseph C^rinnell. Pub- lished bv the Cooper Ornithological Club of California. Royal 8vo, pages 1-80; I map. In this paper Mr. Joseph Grinnell presents the most important contribution to the life- histories of Alaskan birds that has appeared in recent years. A short introduction giving the climate and character of Kotzebue Sound and its affluent streams, especially the Kowak river, on which most of Mr. Grin- nelPs work was done, is followed by field- notes, a bibliography, map and a check- list in which 150 species are recognized from this region, of which seventeen first appear in this volume. That Mr. Grinnell was able between July, 1898, and July, 1899, to record 112 species from personal observation under the difficulties attendant on field-work in Alaska, testifies to his zeal as a collector, as do his annotations to his ability as an observer. Pine Grosbeaks and White-winged Cross- bills were found breeding the last of May, and the Alaskan Jay early the same month, all placing their nests between six and twelve feet from the ground in small spruces. The nests of all these were composed largely of spruce twigs; the Grosbeaks' were frail and lined with grasses, the Crossbills' closely felted internally with a black wool-like lichen, and the Jays a well-woven mass of grass, black lichens and feathers, evidently designed to retain as much warmth as pos- sible in below-zero weather. The Ameri- can Hawk -Owl was found nesting in an enlarged Woodpecker's hole, Short-billed Gulls in trees, and Bank Swallows in ground frozen almost to the point where the nests were situated. The Shrike of Alaska is separated from Lanius borealis as L. b. in-victus on the basis of larger size, greater pallor and broader white markings, but all the measurements given, with the possible exception of the wings, may be duplicated with the New England specimens. — L. B. B. The Ornithological Magazines The Condor. — Fhe opening number of the third volume of ' The Condor ' contains ample evidence of the activity of the Cooper Ornithological Club. Among the articles of general interest are Bowles' ' Bird Notes from Tacoma Gulches,' Silloway's 'Flat- head Lake Findings,' Atkinson's 'Nesting Habits of the California Shrike,' and Mc-