270 Feecent Literature. [ ZOE 
The Systematic and Alphabetic Index of New Species, published 
in 1891, of North American Phanerogams and Pteridophytes, by 
Josephine A. Clark, which is the last paper, is one that every sys- 
tematic botanist will find extremely useful, and we hope the other 
promised publications from the card list of the Botanical Division 
will soon appear. T.S.B. 
Life Histories of North American Birds with special reference 
to their Breeding Habits and Eggs, with Twelve Lithographic 
Plates. By. CHARLES BENDIRE, U. S. Army (Retired). Smith- 
sonian Institution. U.S. Nat. Mus. Special Bulletin No. 1, 1892, 
pp. viii, 1-414. Since the publication in 1857 of a single volume of 
the series begun by Dr. Thomas Mayo Brewer on the nests and 
eggs of North American birds no similar work has been attempted, 
if we except Ernest Ingersoll’s financially unsatisfactory venture. 
The need of material both for the text and for figuring typical eggs 
has been a serious obstacle now removed by the matchless collec- 
tion of Captain Bendire and the assistance rendered by others by 
contributions of new and more complete data relating to nidification 
supplementing the author’s own extensive field experience. Doubt- 
less there is no one equally as competent to deal with this subject 
as Captain Bendire who has, from time to time, in the pages of the 
Auk, biographically treated of several species in a manner that 
leaves but little to be desired. The work contains a few typograph- 
ical, but self-correcting errors of proper names. The styleis simple 
and clear. The text is decidedly not a compilation but remarkable 
for the amount of new reading that it contains, and one feels a con- 
fidence in accepting the facts as facts. The present volume, the 
first of the series, treats of 146 species and subspecies including the 
gallinaceous birds, pigeons and birds of prey. The text is not con- 
fined to descriptions of nests and eggs, but treats also of the life 
histories of each species, their geographical range, migration and 
food habits. The colored lithographic plates representing full sized 
typical eggs and variations are excellent, having been reproduced 
by Ketterlinus from the water-color drawings by Mr. John L. Ridg- 
way. W.E.B. 
The Auk for October has two photogravure plates of nests of the 
fish hawk accompanying an article on the ‘‘ Breeding Habits of the 
Fish Hawk on Plum Island, New York,” by Charles Slover Allen. — 
