Book News and Reviews 



2q5 



designed mainly with the purpose of 

 providing. . . . sketches in color from 

 life of our British birds." The "letter- 

 press," he adds, "is admittedly of neces- 

 sity, largely a compilation. ..." 

 While the text is a very acceptable and 

 useful accompaniment to the illustrations, 

 it is the latter which make this work a note- 

 worthy addition to the large series of books 

 on British birds which has preceded it. 



To the few Americans who are familiar 

 with Mr. Thorburn's drawings he is 

 known chiefly through his illustrations of 

 game-birds; and this volume, therefore, 

 reveals him to us for the first time in the 

 role of a more strictly ornithological 

 artist. 



To fill this position successfully requires 

 exceptional taste, talent, and training. 

 Mr. Thorburn obviously meets all three 

 requirements. No one could paint birds 

 as he does who had not studied them with 

 a bird-lover's eye, and who had not the 

 endowments of a great artist. 



It is this equipment which has made it 

 possible for Mr. Thorburn to make draw- 

 ings of birds which will win the approval 

 both of an ornithologist with no appre- 

 ciation of art, and of an artist with no 

 knowledge of ornithology. The first 

 might find, as the reviewer does, occa- 

 sional lapses in detail, scale, or pose, and 

 the latter would no doubt discover cer- 

 tain debatable points in regard to tech- 

 nique, composition, etc.; but, taken as a 

 whole, the twenty plates in this book 

 express with equal truth and beauty the 

 colors and characters of the birds they 

 portray. 



The plan of publication adopted requires 

 that a number of species be figured on each 

 plate (there are 143 figures in the twenty 

 plates of this volume). Where only 

 closely related forms are thus grouped, the 

 result may be both beautiful and effective; 

 but where birds of dissimilar habits are 

 thus brought together, it requires most 

 skilful handling to avoid incongruous and 

 inartistic associations. 



It is in cases of this kind that Mr. 

 Thorburn shows his mastery of his sub- 

 ject. Birds as unlike as the Nuthatch, 



Hedge Sparrow, and Dipper are grouped 

 with the Kinglet, Wren, and Accentor in 

 a manner which, by the introduction of 

 some appropriate accessory, reveals some- 

 thing of the habit of each; and still, 

 whether viewed bird by bird, or as a 

 whole, the plate is pleasing. 



The artist has very cleverly used the 

 full size (i2>^x ID in.) of his plate, and 

 the reproductions, which are admirable, 

 are printed on a heavy paper (practically 

 cardboard) which gives to each plate an 

 individuality quite apart from the text. 



Only the first of the four volumes of 

 this work has thus far been issued. The 

 second is promised for the fall of this j^ear, 

 and the remaining two for 1916; — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The May number of 

 'The Condor' contains only three general 

 articles, including two papers on the 

 birds of Montana and Idaho and a descrip- 

 tion of a hybrid Duck. In 'A Summer at 

 Flathead Lake, Montana,' Saunders gives 

 the results of his observations in 1914 in a 

 region previously made known by the 

 work of P. M. Silloway. Some interesting 

 recent changes in the avifauna are noted, 

 and several species are added to the local 

 list of birds. 



Rust's 'Annotated List of the Birds of 

 Kootenai County, Idaho,' with brief notes 

 on 149 species, is a welcome addition to 

 the ornithological literature of a compara- 

 tively little-known state. The observa- 

 tions on which this list was based were 

 made between March, 1910, and Decem- 

 ber, 19 14. It is unfortunate that no refer- 

 ence is made to previous work in the same 

 region, since old Fort Sherman, now a 

 part of Coeur d'Alene City, was made 

 classic by the work of the late Dr. J. C. 

 Merrill and other army officers who were 

 stationed there years ago. A list of the 

 birds today naturally suggests a com- 

 parison with the species reported by early 

 observers, in order to show what changes 

 have occurred. 



Under the somewhat formidable title 

 'An Apparent Hybrid between Species of 



