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Handbook of Birds ok the Western 

 United States. By Florence Mer- 

 RiAM Baii.kv. Illiistrateci by Louis 

 AcASSiz Fuertes and others. Houghton, 

 Mifflin & Co., Boston, Mass. 1902. 

 i2mo. 88+487 pages+index; 36 full- 

 page plates, 2 diagrams, 601 figures in 

 the text. Price, $3.50 net and 19 cents 

 postage. 



Lacking space in which to give an ade- 

 t]uate idea of tlie surprising amount of in- 

 formation contained in this volume, or of 

 its sterling value as a text-book, we feel 

 tempted to begin and end our review by 

 urging every one interested in the birds of 

 our western states to procure a copy of this 

 ' Handbook ' with the least possible delay. 

 Experience with bird students, as well as 

 with birds, has given the author all needed 

 training for her task, while the unexcelled 

 collections to which she has had access have 

 furnished the best available ecjuipment for 

 the technical side of her work. 



Some conception of the contents and 

 method of treatment of the book may be 

 gained from the appended summary. The 

 introduction of 88 pages contains instruc- 

 tions for collecting and preparing birds, 

 their nests and eggs, and recording observa- 

 tions; sections on 'Life Zones,' 'Migra- 

 tion,' ' Economic Ornithology,' ' Bird Pro- 

 tection; ' local lists from Portland, Oregon, 

 San Francisco Bay, Santa Clara Valley and 

 Santa Cruz Mountains, and Pasadena, Cali- 

 fornia, Fort Sherman, Idaho, Cheyenne, 

 Wyoming, and Pinal, Pima, and GilaCoun- 

 tries, Arizona. There are also extended 

 lists of books and papers on birds and a 

 detailed explanation of how to use the 

 ' Keys' which follow. 



The systematic portion of the book, treat- 

 ing the birds of the United States west of 

 the one-hundredth meridian, comprises, 

 ( I ) a key to the orders ; (2 ) key to the 

 families; (3) keys to the genera; (4) 

 generic characters ; (5) keys to the species; 

 (6) descriptions of plumages; (7) distribu- 

 tion: (8) description of nest and eggs; {9) 



food; (10) biographies, part of which have 

 been supplied by Vernon Bailey. 



For all of this, both as regards matter 

 and manner, we have only the highest com- 

 mendation to offer ; in short, in our opinion, 

 the work is the most complete text- book of 

 regional ornithology which has ever been 

 published.— F. M. C. 



Birds 01 ihk Rockies. By Leander S. 

 K.EYSER. With eight full-page plates 

 (four in color) by Louis Agassiz Fuer- 

 tes; many illustrations in the text by 

 Bruce Horsfali., and eight views of 

 localities from photographs. With a 

 complete check-list of Colorado birds. 

 Chicago. A. C. McClurg &c Co. 1902. 

 Square i2mo. ix + 355 pages; illus. as 

 above. Price, fj, net. 



In this handsome, beautifully illustrated 

 volume, Mr. Keyser tells the story of two 

 seasons (" Spring of 1899, and again in 

 1 901 ") among the birds of Colorado. 

 Readers of lus previous works are familiar 

 with his love of the bird in nature and his 

 glowing portrayal of his experiences afield ; 

 and in this last volume his undiminished 

 ardor in the pursuit of some, to him, new 

 bird and his keen delight in making its 

 acquaintance, serve not only to give pleas- 

 ure to his audience but well illustrate the 

 undying enthusiasm of the genuine bird- 

 lover. 



Selecting a region whose birds were for 

 the most part strangers to him and where 

 altitude added much of interest in studying 

 distribution, Mr. Keyser abandoned him- 

 self to the fascinations of bird study on 

 plains and foothills, mountain parks and 

 peaks; and his recountal of his experiences 

 cannot fail to arouse the spirit of desire in 

 the minds of those who follow his pages. 



The book possesses a scientific as well as 

 literary value, many of Mr. Keyset's ob- 

 servations being of permanent worth ; 

 though, from the scientific point of view, 

 the value of his text would have been in- 

 creased if he had not been quite so sparing 

 of dates. 



(200) 



