32 



THE OSPREY. 



Birds of Wdnhliii/liin and ]"irliiiiy, hiclii<iiv(j Ad- 

 ■'lairnt Purls of Mariiland imd Virginin. — By Mrs. L. 

 W. Maynard. Willi Introiluftmn bv Florence A. 

 Merriaui. Wa.shinjfton, I). C, ISHS. "Svo, p. L'04. 



" This little book." s;iys tlie anibor in lier preface, 

 "has been preinired at thesuirgestion ofthe Au(hil)on 

 Society of the District of Columbia, in the belief that 

 a local wovK. j^isano; untechnical description of all 

 birds likely to be seen in this vicinitv, with sonie- 

 thin;i of the hannls and hahits of those that nest 

 here, will be useful to many who desire an acquaint- 

 ance with our own birds, but do not know liow to 

 make it." 



The intention thus announced has been well car- 

 ried out. After Miss Merriam's latroduction, we 

 have a few words '■ about birds in creneral," intend- 

 ed for the tyro, and then a field key to our common 

 land birds, taken from Chapman's Bird life. Know- 

 intras much as we do about keys in general, anil the 

 dilllculty of coiistruclinj; kexs thai will open the 

 lock, even when made from specimens in hand, we 

 have our doubts of the utility of keys for birds at 

 gunshot or opera glass range. But they are fash- 

 ionable now-a-days, and one mia;ht as well be out of 

 the bird-world as out of key-fashion. Let that pa.ss, 

 however, as a stage whisper aside. I'ollowing the 

 key IS the main body of the book, running pp. 41- 

 L5.5, treating systematically of the summer residents 

 of the Distri<-t, known or believed to breed here, 

 with a briff f iimal description of each, and more or 

 less e.xtended fielil notes. An article on migration 

 comes next, with a bri'^Hy descriptive list of the mi- 

 grants and vvinttr residents. 



But the most important article is the " List of all 

 Birds found in the District of Columbia," by Dr. 

 Chailes W. Kichmond, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. This enumerates 'il)! species in tabular form, 

 divi'ling them into the six categories of [leniianent 

 residents, summer lesidents, spring and autumn mi- 

 grants, winter residents, casual vi-sitors, and acciden- 

 tal .stragglers— though the distinction between the.=(e 

 two last categories is not obvious to the (iresent wri- 

 ter. The construction ofthe table shows at a glance 

 to which category or categories each species belongs, 

 and all are brieliy annotated. 



We call special attention to this list, as it marks a 

 great advance in our knowleilge of the subject. The 

 Hrst such list, during the present generation of or- 

 nithologists, was that by that by Drs. Coues and 

 I'renti.ss, published :!(> years ago, in the Annual 

 Smithsonian Report for 1851, pp. 399-4L'l. This ar- 

 ticle gave 22i; species. The ne.xt list was a nominal 

 one by Pierre l-,ouis Jouy, " with remarks on the 

 birds of the District of Columbia '' by Drs. C'Uies 

 and Prentiss, published in Field and Forest, May, 

 1S77, pp. l'.)l-lyo. This subtracted one and added 

 15 species, rai.sing the number to 24U. In ISiS:! the 

 original authors published a new and entirely re- 

 written edition of their work, entitled Avifauna 

 Columbia, etc., as I5ulletin No. 26 of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, Svo, pp. 133, frontisp., map, and 

 many figures of birds from Coues' Key. In this 

 work the total number was raiseil to 248, divided 

 iiilo 4r permanent residents, 40 winter residents, liO 

 summer visitants, mostly bieeilers, 49 spring and 

 autumn migrants, and 40 acciilental or very rare 

 visitants. It is thus seen that during the period 

 from 1SG2 to 1883, there were but 23 accessions to 

 the original list. In the present case the showing of 

 43 acce.ssions since 1883 indicates the admirable ac- 

 tivity of our local ornithologists. The increa.se in 

 number is of course chiefly in the categories of the 

 very rare or casual visitants, but Dr. Kichmond is 



now able to make some notable modifications of the 

 former categories, by transference of some species 

 from one to another category, in consequence ofthe 

 increased precision of our present knowleilge concern- 

 ing their proper status. 



Following Dr. Kichmond 's article is a nominal list 

 of the birds that may be seen in winter in the Dis- 

 trict; to which .-iucceed several very local lists, each 

 of a few species that have been noticed in some par- 

 ticular place within the author's general limits, in 

 Brookland, Mt. Vernon and Kensineton, and in the 

 Zoological Park. Miss Merriam's Oliservation Out- 

 line fallows, abridged from her Birds of Village and 

 Fielil, with a short list of u-ieful books for new stu- 

 dents. The book is indexed, and on the whole will 

 be found indispen.salile to our local ornithologists. 



The book bears no publisher'simprint, and we do 

 not know where it may be procured, nor its price. 

 The copyright is held by the author. It is well itrint- 

 ed at the Lord Baltimore Press, by the Friedewald 

 Cnmpany of I'.altimore. 



We should not end this notice without a word re- 

 garding the illustrations. These are reproduced 

 froHi JUillelins No, 3 and No. .54 of the LI. S. Bio- 

 logical Survey, Department of Agriculture. All are 

 recognizable portraits of birds, but when we say that 

 they are eiibrts of the United States Government to 

 be artii-tic, we have no higher praise to bestow upon 

 tkem.— E. C. 



Wild Aninuds I luioe Knou/i mid .'00 Dnnmngx. — 

 Bv ICrnest Seton Thompson. New'iork; Scribners. 

 Wide Svo, pp. 359. 



In noticing this remarkable book, wee aild wish it 

 were more ornithological, or that Tnn Osckev were 

 less exclusively devoted to birds. But one of the nine 

 strangely interesting stories it contains is that of 

 " Kedriiff, the Don \'alley Partridge," which shows 

 .singularly sympathetic insight into the life of the 

 Kull'ed Grou.se, and has only to be read to be warmly 

 felt, la its way it is a model biograjiby, and we 

 have no doubt that the truly understood life history 

 of inanv another bird would furnish the materials 

 for similar artistic treatment. We seem to get at 

 the very heart ofthe mother bird and her little ones. 

 The same siiirit runs through all the other stories — 

 they are threnodies, all tending to the inevitable cat- 

 astro|)he of death liy violence for wild animals, yet 

 not without ]ilenty of fun and mischief while life 

 lasts. Mr. Thomp.son has observed, or at any rate 

 revealed witli rare fidelity of art to nature, a great 

 secret. This is, that the life of a wild animal alirays 

 Juif: a tragic end;" and this is the sad reason why 

 the.ss true stories are tragic. Furthermore, the book 

 shows clearly how near akin are the beasts of the 

 field to lordly man: how man has nothing that may 

 not be traced in other animals; how beasts have 

 nothing that man does not share in some degree, and 

 thus that they surely have rights of their own. This 

 is a lesson that cannot be too often inculcated, and 

 ha", herhaps, never been before so strongly pressed 

 home to us. The book is a whole.some one, in spite 

 of its sorrowful burden; it shoulil teach every one of 

 us to be kindly and merciful to onr fellow creatures 

 of lowly degree. It is also exquisitely illustrated, 

 both with full |iage jilafes and with numberless tell- 

 ing thumb-nail sketches on the broad margins of 

 the pages. Mr. Thompson is new easily first as an 

 artist in mammals, among those of this country at 

 any rate, and a close .second to Mr. Fuertes in birds. 

 Either of these admirable artiats would be the mak- 

 ing of any book in which their pencils should have 

 free scope. — E. C. 



