270 Recent Liter at lu-e. [zoe 



The Systematic and Alphabetic Index of New Species, published 

 in 1 89 1, 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 NortJi 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. r, 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 style is 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- 

 fi;dence 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 Atik 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, 



