LITERARY NOTICES. 



73 



ence with the Sultan, who "decorates" him. 

 Proceeding down the coast to Natal, our 

 traveler turns inland to Johannesburg the 

 city of Gold and Kimberley, going thence 

 to the Cape Colony. In coming up the west 

 coast the first district visited is Angola, 

 where the habits of the natives and the ar- 

 rangements for trading with them furnish 

 much material of interest. Mr. Vincent 

 made an extended exploration of the Congo 

 Free State, having an opportunity to accom- 

 pany the managing director of the Upper 

 Congo Company in an expedition to explore 

 branches of the Congo where no settlements 

 of whites existed, and establish posts upon 

 them. The Cameroons, the Niger Territory, 

 the Guinea Coast, the Cape Verde, Madeira, 

 and Canary Islands are visited in turn, and 

 the circumnavigation of the continent is 

 completed when Gibraltar is passed once 

 more. The illustrations, all full- page plates 

 from photographs, are a valuable feature of 

 the book. They include views of cities and 

 native village-!, portraits of prominent per- 

 sonages, pictures of natives showing their 

 characteristic dress (or lack of it), dancing 

 girts, scenery, industrial operations, etc., etc. 

 The author's descriptions are eminently sat- 

 isfying, and they are so because, in addition 

 to the main facts, he is not too dignified to 

 put in those characteristic details which fill 

 the gaps between the outlines and give conti- 

 nuity to his word-pictures. 



Handbook of Birds of Eastern North 

 America. By Frank M. Chapman. Il- 

 lustrated. New York: D. Appleton & 

 Co. Pp. 421. Price, $3. 



This is one of the most attractive and, at 

 the same time, useful books that has come to 

 our notice on this subject. Mr. Chapman is 

 particularly well qualified, by long and en- 

 thusiastic study, to teach us about birds; 

 and he has adopted an arrangement in this 

 work which makes the subject extremely 

 interesting, and the book a very easy one 

 to use. 



It is unfortunate that many of us are so 

 entirely ignorant of bird life that one of the 

 most varied and beautiful of Nature's crea- 

 tures has no place in our landscape pictures ; 

 and as for their language, we are in even a 

 worse plight. During a recent walk through 

 the woods with a citv friend, a wood thrush 



suddenly gave voice some little distance 

 ahead of us. The friend immediately re- 

 marked that he didn't know crows lived in 

 the woods. Such absolute ignorance as this 

 is of course rather rare, but some of us are 

 little better off. For many, a knowledge of 

 bird lore is simply an addition to the pleasure 

 obtained from out-of-door life ; but to the 

 large agricultural class it has an important 

 economic value, and to the scientific philoso- 

 pher the bird fills an important place in the evo- 

 lutionary scheme. Mr. Chapman divides the 

 science of ornithology into three branches 

 systematic, philosophic, and economic. The 

 systematist classifies birds according to what 

 are apparently their true relationships. " He 

 is the ornithological storekeeper, and, having 

 taken an account of stock, it is his duty to 

 keep the books of the firm in order." The 

 philosophic ornithologist, with the aid of 

 these books, attempts to explain the reasons 

 for and the effects of what he finds exist- 

 ing. " He is a seeker of causes." The econ- 

 omist, essentially practical, is impressed by 

 the important part which birds play in the 

 economics of Nature, and the value to the 

 agriculturist of a knowledge as to whether 

 their influence is, in a particular case, for 

 good or evil. He says : " Few persons real- 

 ize the value of birds to man. They are the 

 natural check upon the increase of insect 

 life ; . . . indeed, it is not too much to say 

 that without birds the earth would not long 

 be habitable." On the last page of the in- 

 troductory chapter is a heading, The Sen- 

 timent of Ornithology, under which the aes- 

 thetics of the science are considered. What 

 impresses one most strongly in these few 

 paragraphs is the enthusiasm of Mr. Chap- 

 man over his science. A perusal of simply 

 this portion of the book assures one that the 

 author's " whole heart is in his work," and 

 that of course implies the very best results 

 of which he is capable. In the next chapter 

 he tells us how to study birds out of doors. 

 How and when to find them requires a study 

 of their haunts and migratory habits ; how 

 to identify them in the field, a consideration 

 of the necessary outfit, such as gun, field- 

 glasses, etc. This chapter is closed with 

 some hints on keeping note-books and jour- 

 nals. Chapter III deals with collecting and 

 preparing birds, nests, and eggs for museum 

 specimens, and the care necessary to keep 



