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106 THE CONDOR Vol. XVII erroneous in at least four respects. "The pigeon ... auklets appear [in southeastern Alaska] only as migrants in winter"--what does it mean! "White-breasted" cormorants and "Gambel's whitethroat"--what are they? "The only game-bird of the [south- coast district of Alaska] ... is the white- tailed ptarmigan ...". "Of the owls, the short-cared finds excellent nesting-places in the thick woods ...". "...Both varieties of the Canada or spruce grouse, or fool-hen, resort in summer to breeding-places all over the interior ..."--than which a more fool- ish statement could hardly be constructed! The above-quoted, and other statements, are inconsistent with many of the best-known facts in Alaskan ornithology. It does seem to us that when an organiza- tion of the standing and financial resources of the National Association of Audubon Soci- eties essays to engage in instructing the youth of the land with "accuracy", better results than parts of those here presented might have been secured. It is a reflection upon the standing of ornithology and or- nithologists in America when presumably representative work is put out in this faulty manner--and for the worthy purpose of pop- ular education.--& GrenfELL. WILD Lir? CO?S?RVXT?O?. By WILLIAi?I T. HOR?NADAY (Yale University Press, New Haven, November, 1914, pp. vi-{-240, 13 pls.). That noted champion of wild life conser- vation, W. T. Hornaday, has just contrib- uted another valuable work to the cause. The book is the result of a series of lectures dealing with wild life conservation as given before the Yale Forestry School. The au- thor says: "The publication of this volume by the University Press may well be accept. ed as a contribution to a cause. It is hoped by those who have made possibre this lec- ture course and this volume that this pre- sentation may arouse other educators in our great institutions of learning to take up their shares of the common burden of con- serving our wild life from the destructive forces that so long have been bearing very heavily upon it." In his introduction Dr. Hornaday scores University educators for training a grand army of embryologists and morphologists and allowing the annihilation of the species that our zoologists are studying. He asks: "Which is the more important: the saving of the pinnated grouse from extermination, or studying the embryology of a clutch of grouse eggs?" The book is divided into five chapters, as follows: "The Extinction and Preserva- tion of Wild Life," "The Economic Value of Our Birds," "The Legitimate Use of Game Birds and Mammals," "Animal Pests and their Rational Treatment," and "The Duty and Power of the Citizen in Wild Life Pro- tection." In addition a chapter on "Private Game Preserves as Factors in Conserva- tion" by Frederick C. Walcott is given, and the book concludes with a bibliography of the more recent works on wild birds with special reference to game preserves and the protect{on and propagation of game. A num- ber ? of very telling pictures depicting the slaughter of game and also a number illus- trating protection are used as illustrations. The most pertinent sentences and para- graphs are placed in italics. Most of ?hese expressions are in Dr. Hornaday's positive style. They are expressed in such a way as t,? make them appear immutable laws. For example, here are some of them: '"No one thanks an ancestor who hands over to him only desolation, ugliness and poverty"; "a fauna once destroyed cannot be brought back"; "every wild species of bird or mam- mal quickly recognizes protection, and takes advantage of it to the utmost"; "if our quail and grouse are decently treated, and c. ensibly protected, they will come back so rapidly and so thoroughly that we will not need to look abroad for substitutes." We are glad to see a growing sentiment in favor of this last maxim. Our own native game will always be of more value than in- troduced game. The time is near at hand when every sportsman will echo the sentiment ex- pressed in the following: "The outing in the open is the thing,--not the amount of bloodstained feathers and death in the game bag." This slogan should be conspicuously posted in every gun club lodge in the United States. The chapter on "The Duty and Power of the Citizen" furnishes information as to "what the young conservationist can do when the mantle of leadership has fallen upon him." The following advice is given: "Do not propose any local legislation"; "a leader must be willing to sacrifice his per- sonal convenience, the most of his pleas- ures, and keep at his work when his friends are asleep or at the theater"; "campaigns for wild life conservation should attack edu- cated classes", for "the greatest factor in reforming the wild life situation is educa- tion, for it is the educated people who edu- cate their legislators into the making of bet- ter laws and providing means for their enforcement." Mr. Walcott's chapter on "Private Game Preserves" deals largely with successful methods of propagating game and the suc- cess attendant upon careful protection. He also suggests the aviary as an important ad- junct to the education of the public. "Our Vanishing Wild Life", and this