iloDfe jBteto^ anti 3^ei)ieto0 



Birds of New York. By Elon Howard 

 Eaton. New York State Museum, 

 Memoir 12, Part i. Introductory 

 Chapters; Water Birds and Game 

 Birds. Albany, University of the State 

 of New York. 1910. 4to., 501 pages, 

 42 colored plates. 



The first of the two volumes of this im- 

 portant work is now before us, and it fully 

 meets anticipations aroused by a knowl- 

 edge of the labor which has been unspar- 

 ingly expended in its preparation. Mr. 

 Eaton has shown admirable judgment in 

 the arrangement of his text, and in the 

 selection of material and presentation of 

 data has exercised a care and thorough- 

 ness which makes his work authoritative 

 in the highest degree. Thoroughly familiar 

 with previously recorded information in 

 regard to the birds of New York state, he 

 has himself had a wide field of experience 

 in this same area, and he has enlisted the 

 services of many other observers. The 

 volume, therefore, adequately reflects our 

 existing knowledge. The introductory 

 matter contains a 'Summary of the New 

 York State Avifauna,' 'Life Zones of New 

 York State,' with maps of much general 

 interest, 'The Mt. Marcy Region,' 'In- 

 crease and Decrease of Species,' 'Sugges- 

 tions to Bird Students,' 'Bird Migration,' 

 'Spring Arrivals,' 'Published Local List,' 

 'County Schedules,' 'Classification,' then, 

 under the head of 'Descriptions of Genera 

 and Species,' and occupying pages 91 to 

 390, we have descriptions of plumage and 

 sections on 'Field Marks,' 'Distribution,' 

 'Migrations,' 'Haunts and Habits' and 

 'Nest and Eggs' of the water- and game- 

 birds of the state. 



Lacking space in which to review the 

 text of this work in detail, we can simply 

 unreservedly commend it both as regards 

 matter and manner. It contains a large 

 amount of new material, and constitutes 

 a noteworthy addition to our knowledge 

 of birds. 



The forty-two colored plates by Mr. 

 Fuertes, bound at the end of this volume, 

 add in so large a measure to its value and 



attractiveness that we are not a little sur- 

 prised to find that the illustrator's name 

 does not appear on the title page of the 

 work. Not since Audubon has there been 

 published such a slpendid series of colored 

 plates of our water and game birds. While 

 the necessity of grouping a number of birds 

 on the same plate has at times necessarily 

 produced an inartistic crowding of figures, 

 we nevertheless have a series of bird por- 

 traits which, on the whole, in our opinion, 

 are superior to any that have been made 

 of the same species. The four-color pro- 

 cess by which the plates were reproduced 

 has evidently, with few exceptions, done 

 justice to the originals, and as a series, 

 therefore, the plates are fully up to the stan- 

 dard of the text they accompany, an esti- 

 mate of their worth which we think should 

 be equally satisfactory to both author and 

 artist.— F. M. C. 



Cassinia: Proceedings of the Dela- 

 ware Valley Ornithological Cll^b, 

 No. XIII, 1909. Philadelphia, Pa. 8\o. 

 66 pages, i plate. 



'Cassinia' brings its characteristic at- 

 mosphere of ornithological good fellow- 

 ship, the secret of which is sympathetically 

 explained in a delightful little sketch, 

 by George Spencer Morris, on 'The D. 

 V. O. C. and its Twentieth Anniversary.' 

 "Life in the open," he writes, "the love 

 of nature, the joy in her beauties, the touch 

 of adventure, the dash of sport, and then 

 the illusive grace and charm of the wild 

 bird prevading it all — that is ornithology." 

 Certainly it is the kind of ornithology the 

 D. V. O. C. has thrived on, and the 

 writer concludes, "After twenty years we 

 find our little club stronger and more in 

 earnest than ever before, and thus, we 

 meet the future with confidence born 

 of the knowledge that a good work has 

 been well begun." Why are there not 

 more D. V. O. C.'s? 



Other papers in this number are a 

 biography of Thomas B. Wilson, D.D., 

 by \\'itmer Stone; 'Duck Shooting on the 



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