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A History of Birds. Hy W. I'. I'vckakt, 

 Zoological Depart menl, lirilish Mu- 

 seum. Melhuen & Co., 30 Essex Street, 

 W. C. London, iqio. 8vo., xxxi-(-4s8 

 pages; 37 plates, 50 text cuts. Price 10 

 shillings, sixpence. 



The reviewer who would prepare an 

 adequate notice of this volume has before 

 him a task of no small proportions. 

 Correspondingly great, therefore, has been 

 Mr. Pycraft's effort to present in one 

 volume a summary of what is significant 

 in the history of bird-life. Furthermore, 

 he may claim both the delights and the 

 difficulties of the pioneer, for we recall 

 no other bird book of this kind. It is true, 

 we have had books on migration, nest- 

 ing, song, form and function, molt, home- 

 life, etc., while Darwin, Wallace, and 

 other philosophic naturalists, have made 

 extended use of birds to illustrate various 

 theories in e\olution. But Mr. Pycraft 

 alone has attempted to present in one 

 volume a detailed picture of the bird, in 

 relation to its environment, and no one 

 unfamiliar with the mass and character of 

 the literature to be digested in preparation 

 for such a work can realize the magnitude 

 of the undertaking. Let it be said at once 

 that Mr. Pycraft has been surprisingly 

 successful. It is not to be expected that 

 the work should throughout be of equal 

 merit. The specialist in distribution, 

 migration, and nest-life, for example, 

 could find room for improvement in the 

 chapters on these subjects, just as Mr. 

 Pycraft would find ground for criticism in 

 chapters which these specialists might 

 prepare on his department of structural 

 adaptations. It is, however, both natural 

 and, in this case, certainly desirable, that 

 an author should give greatest attention 

 to those phases of a subject in which he is 

 especially interested, and of which he has 

 a knowledge based on personal research. 

 We wish it were possible to review this 

 important work in detail, for it is an 

 eloquent exposition of the kind of orni- 

 thology which every one who has at heart 



(20; 



the ad\'anccment of the science of birds 

 will wish to see developed; but at present 

 we can only indicate its contents by 

 ai^pending a list of chapter headings: 

 Chapters I-III. Introductory and Phy- 

 logenetic. The general characters of birds 

 and their position in the animal kindgom. 



IV. (Ecological Distribution and Haunts. 



V. Seasonal Life. VI. Migration. VII. 

 Relations to Animate Environment. \TII. 

 Peculiar Inter-relations (with other forms 

 of life). IX. Phases of Social Life. X. 

 The Relations of the Sexes. XI. Repro- 

 duction — Nidification. XII. Concerning 

 Eggs. XIII, XIV. Care of Offspring. 



XV. Nesting Birds and What They Teach. 



XVI. The Life-History of Birds— An 

 Oncological Summary. XVII. Variation: 

 Continuous and Discontinuous. XVIII. 

 Acquired Characters. XIX. Natural Se- 

 lection as Applied to Birds. XX. Artifi- 

 cial Selection. XXI. Sexual Selection. 

 XXII. Isolation. XXIII-XXV. Struc- 

 tural and Functional Adaptations. XXVI. 

 Convergent Evolution and Parallel Devel- 

 opment. The breadth, importance, and 

 unusual character of Mr. Pycraft's book 

 is clearly evident by this mere statement 

 of the field it covers, and we very cordi- 

 ally commend it to every one interested 

 in birds in nature. They will unquestion- 

 ably find in it much that is new to them, 

 and, quite as unquestionably, it will give 

 them a new conception of the possibilities 

 of bird study. — F. M. C. 



Birds of South Carolina. By Arthur 

 Trezevant Wayne, Honorary Curator 

 of Birds in the Charleston Museum. 

 With an Introduction by the Editor. 

 Charleston, S. C, 1910. 8vo., xxi-(-254 

 pages, I map. 



Since 1883, Mr. Wayne has devoted 

 himself almost continuously to field 

 work among the birds of the coast of 

 South Carolina, and this volume is 

 based largely on his labors in that 

 region. In order, however, that the book 

 might contain a complete list of South 







