SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



441 



rapher, and these any one thinking of 

 taking up this branch of art will do 

 well to read carefully. Mr. Chapman 

 considers that a 4x5 plate is the size 

 best adapted for general purposes, and 

 notes that while a lens with short 

 focus may serve for photographing 

 nests and eggs, for the birds them- 

 selves a rapid lens with focus of four- 

 teen to eighteen inches should be used. 

 The rest of the book is for the general 

 reader, and contains many facts of in- 

 terest concerning the haunts, habits, 

 and home life of a number of birds from 

 the well-known sparrow to the unfa- 

 miliar pelican, the accounts of the Bird 

 Rock and Pelican Island being the most 

 interesting. Some of the illustrations 

 are a little disappointing, and empha- 

 size the difficulties of photographing 

 wild birds, but there is ample compen- 

 sation for these in the excellence of 

 others, particularly those devoted to 

 Perce, Bonaventure and Bird Rock. 

 This is equally true of birds and 

 scenery, the views of Perce Rock being 

 the finest that have fallen under our 

 notice. Mr. Chapman's estimate of the 

 feathered population of Great Bird 

 Rock, which he puts at 4,000, is by far 

 the smallest yet made, and probably 

 has the soundest basis, and shows a sad 

 diminution from the hosts of fifty years 

 ago. 



'Bird Homes,' by A. Radclyffe Dug- 

 more, seems well adapted for its stated 

 purpose of stimulating the love of birds, 

 helping the ordinary unscientific person 

 to get some closer glimpses of them, and 

 aiding in the study of their wonderfully 

 adapted nests and beautiful eggs. Fur- 

 thermore, it will probably create a 

 strong desire in the reader to become 

 a photographer of birds and their nests. 

 To further these aims we have a first 

 part containing half-a-dozen chapters 

 devoted among other things to birds' 

 nests and eggs, photographing nests 

 and young birds and the approximate 

 dates when birds begin to nest, this 



being adapted to the vicinity of New 

 York. 



Following this is the bulk of the 

 volume, containing brief descriptions of 

 the birds, their nests, nesting places 

 and eggs, and here the author has con- 

 fessedly borrowed from Bendire, Davie 

 and other well-known authorities, al- 

 though one might wish that Mr. Dug- 

 more had introduced more of his own 

 observations, since those given inci- 

 dentally in the first part are very in- 

 teresting; where he indulges in theory 

 he is less successful. In place of the 

 usual method of studying the nest 

 from the bird, we have that of study- 

 ing the bird from the nest, and for this 

 purpose the nests are grouped in classes, 

 a chapter being devoted to each class; 

 thus we have nests open, on the ground 

 in open fields, marshes and generally 

 open country ; open nests in trees : nests 

 in bridges, buildings, walls, etc. By 

 this plan any one finding a nest can, 

 with a little care and observation, iden- 

 tify the bird that made it. The illus- 

 trations, largely of nests and eggs, are 

 a noteworthy feature of the book, al- 

 though the three-color process which 

 succeeded so admirably in Dr. Hol- 

 land's Butterfly Book, is here as equally 

 distinct a failure, the least bad of the 

 colored plates being that showing the 

 nest of the yellow-breasted chat, the 

 worst that of the nest of the Baltimore 

 oriole. Those in black and white, how- 

 ever, merit the highest praise, and this 

 includes the smaller cuts introduced as 

 decorative features in the first portion 

 of the book. It would seem difficult in 

 a half-tone to improve on the plate of 

 young crested flycatchers for clearness 

 of detail, while among others that de- 

 serve special mention for artistic effect 

 is the wood thrush on nest, and the 

 nests of the chestnut-sided, yellow, 

 blue-winged and worm-eating warblers. 

 The general 'get- up' of the book is ex- 

 cellent, and the printing of the plates 

 separately permits the use of a dead- 

 faced paper for the text, which is 

 pleasant to the eye. 



