December 



shall be done : and there is no new thing under 

 the sun." 



While it is true that the chief pleasure of 

 field ornithology is derived from personal re- 

 search, yet, for the wise direction of one's ef- 

 forts, and for information on such points as fail 

 to come within his own observation, a hand- 

 book is indispensable. Investigation in this 

 science has been more thorough in the eastern 

 part of the United States than elsewhere in 

 America, and there are several reference-books, 

 reliable and interestingly written, regarding the 

 birds to be found in New England and the 

 Eastern and Middle States. A thorough stu- 

 dent desires to consult various authorities, but 

 a single good work will ordinarily suffice. 



Expense and completeness taken into ac- 

 count, the best hand-book for the land -birds of 

 the Northeastern States is Minot's "Land and 

 Game Birds of New England " (Estes & Lau- 

 riat). This really suffices for a much larger area 

 than New England, for the species that summer 

 only in the extreme Northern States are seen as 

 migrants in more southerly latitudes, and there 

 are few that summer in the Middle Atlantic 



327 



