64 



THE OSPKEY. 



presented to the National Museum. One was 

 shot at Four Mile Kun, Va.. November 22, 189^), 

 by Thos. Taylor, jr., and donated to the Museum 

 by Mr. Henry Taibott; the other was captured 

 alive by Mr. K. S. Shephei'd, near Kenilworth, 

 between Chevy Chase and Kensinj^-ton, Md., on 

 November 24. Both birds were immature and 



were sent to the Museum in the flesh. — ChaS. 

 W. Richmond. 



A Nkw Oknithoi.ogicai, Club at Prince- 

 ton, N. J., has been constituted under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. W. E. D. Scott in connection with 

 Princeton Universitv. 



Literature, 



Birds of Eastkrn North America known 

 to occur east of the ninetieth meridian. ^Part II. 

 Land birds — Key to the Families and Species. 

 By Charles B. Cory. Special edition printed for 

 the Field Columbian Museum. Chicago, 111., 

 1899, [sm 4to vx, 131-387 p., vig-nette]. The first 

 part of this work appeared in August and was 

 noticed in the September number of the Osprey. 

 The second part has the pag"ination continued 

 from the former, and is naturally on the same 

 plan. The key is, or rather the many keys 

 are designedly artificial and based to a larg-e 

 extent on measurements and especially those of 

 the wings. For example, the main division of 

 the land birds is into five "groups" distin- 

 g-uished by the leng-th of the wings; consequently 

 the same natural groups may be represented in 

 the key under several caterories. The families 

 nevertheless are made to follow in natural order 

 — or rather the order adopted by the American 

 Ornitholog-ists' Union. This arrang-ement is 

 definitely adopted in "A list of the birds of 

 Eastern North America" appended (p. 325-387). 

 570 forms (species and subspecies) are named 

 and numbered, and after their numbers are ap- 

 pended (within parentheses) those of the "A. 

 O. U". 



The work is illustrated with the same profu- 

 sion and from the same sources as the first 

 part.—T. G. 



A First Book in OrCtAnic Evolution. B3- 

 D. Kerfoot vShute. — Chicag-o. The Open Court 

 Publishing- Company, 1899.— 12mo. xvi, 285 p., 12 

 pi. (9 col). This is an excellent primer of the 

 Development Theory and was prepared origi- 

 nally in response to the wants of students of 

 the Columbian Universitj' in which the author 

 is Professor of Anatomy. Experience has 

 shown him what such students need, and he 

 has applied himself to meet these wants and 

 has g'iven the benefit of his labors to others of 

 like condition. After an "Introduction" defin- 

 ing- evolution he treats, in successive chapters 

 or "sections", of (1) "Org-anic cells, the visible 

 units of life"; (2) "Heredit^^ with variation"; (3) 

 "Unstable environment"; (4) "Transmutation 

 of living- form"; (5) "Natural selection"; (6) 

 "Evolution of man"; and concludes with sec- 

 tions on classification, etc. The most approved 

 views as to the genealogical tree of animals are 

 g-iven in a "Diag-i^am of Development" (p. 183). 

 This has been prepared especially with I'efer- 



ence to the exhiliition of the ancestry of man, 

 and expresses the view that man is the 

 oft'spring- of a creature very like the living- 

 chimpanzee and g-orilla, and that both orig-i- 

 nated from forms similar to, but more g-ener- 

 alized than, the old world monkeys. The birds 

 are properly derived from a reptilian stock long- 

 ag-o extinct. Two of the colored plates illus- 

 trate birds.— T. G. 



A EiST OF Birds Collected on the Island 

 OF New Providence, Bahamas, by J. Eewis 

 Bonhote, appears in the Ibis for October, 1899, 

 (7. S., vol. 5, p. 502-520). Fifty-nine species are 

 enumerated as observed during- a year's resi- 

 dence. "Three or four species not hitherto re- 

 corded from New Providence" are specified. 



Memoirs of the Bishop Museum of Hono- 

 lulu have been commenced with a first number 

 devoted to the consideration of the remarkable 

 feather work of the Hawaiian s. The memoir is 

 by the director of the Museum, Dr. W. T. Brig-- 

 ham, and is in quarto form with 83 pag-es and 15 

 plates. 



Field Notes on Birds Collected in the 

 Philippine Islands in 1893-6, by the late John 

 Whitehead, (see OsprEv, October, p. 31) have 

 been published in four parts in the Ibis for 1899. 

 Three hundred and fifty-nine species are com- 

 mented on. larg-ely in inconsiderable notes on 

 specimens obtained. 



An Illustrated Manual of British Birds, 

 by Howard Saunders, in its second edition has 

 been completed by the publication of the 

 twentieth part. 348 species are described of 

 which 199 have been known to breed in the 

 islands and 74 have been found less than six 

 times. The latest "find" is an American 

 Spotted Sandpiper. 



The House Sparrow (The Avian Rat) in 

 relation to ag-riculture and g-ardening- is the 

 title of a .small volume written by W. B. Teg-et- 

 meier and published bj- Vinton & Co., of London. 



A Supplementary Volume of the Catalo- 

 gue OF Birds byR. BowdlerSharpe is mentioned 

 among- the works "in preparation" to be publish- 

 ed by the British Museum, in the last "Return" 

 to Parliament bj- the British Museum. 



