Jan. 1839.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



15 



That our game birds are endowed with a kalei- 

 doscopic nomenclature, to an extent that in a 

 visit to a new field one finds great dilficulty in 

 obtaining intelligible information from the 

 natives, is admitted, and it is high time that 

 this was remedied. That no successful effort 

 in this direction has been made by our leading 

 sporting publications is by no means liattering 

 to them as being of practical benefit to tlieir 

 readers, and it is hoped that they may yet turn 

 their attention to it. The work in question is 

 a good step in the right direction. 



The author, to use his own words, has pre- 

 sented "Those birds which particularly interest 

 gunners, including, however, only those species 

 whicli are found in the eastern half of the 

 United States, and again only those birds 

 wliicli bear aliases to a confusing degree." Be- 

 ginning with the Goose, followed by the Ducks, 

 Hails, Grouse, and ending with the Snipe and 

 Bay birds, each individual is numbered, and 

 scientific name given, then a brief practical 

 description. Xext the common name (accepted) 

 and as many locals as the writer has been able 

 to obtain, and to crown all a fine illustration 

 which we can endorse by again quoting from 

 the author, "^ good picture is worth more for 

 the purpose of identification than all the descrip- 

 tions ever written.'''' 



In some instances we seem hardly better off 

 than the aborigines. Under the head of Xo. 

 31, Erismatura ruMda, Ruddy Duck, Mr. Trum- 

 bull finds it known as "Blue-bill, Broad-bill, 

 Broad-bill Dipper, Hard-headed Broad-bill, 

 Sleepy Broad-bill, Dij^per, Dopper, Dapper, 

 Mud Dipper, Bumblebee Coot, Creek Coot, Coot, 

 Spoon-bill, Spoon-billed Butter-ball, Butter- 

 ball, Butter-duck, Butter-bowle, Batter-scoot, 

 Blather-scoot, Blatherskite, Bladder-scoot, 

 Sleepy-head, Sleepy-duck, Sleepy Coot, Sleepy 

 Brother, Fool-duck, Deaf-duck, Shot-pouch, 

 Bull-neck, Stub-and-twist, Daub-duck, Goose 

 Widgeon, Widgeon Coot, Widgeon, Hard-head, 

 Tough-head, Booby, Booby Coot, Salt water 

 Teal. Brown Diving Teal, Stiff-tail, Quill-tail 

 Coot, Pin-tail, Bristle-tail, Heavy-tailed 

 Diu'k, Stick-tail, Spine-tail, Dip-tail Diver, 

 Dun Diver, Ruddy Diver, Dun bird. Hick- 

 ory-head, Greaser, Water-partridge, Steel- 

 head, Rook, Paddy, Xoddy, Light-wood Knot, 

 Paddy-whxck, Dinkey, Dickey, Leather-back, 

 Dumpling-duck, and Hard-tack." 



With such a bewildering array, and each as 

 much a matter of fact in its locality as the 

 scientific name to the student, the value of 

 this work of reference can be readily compre- 

 hended. 



Mr. Oliver Davie's new edition of Nests and 

 ^(/fff^ of North American Birds, will soon be 

 ready, we have received the advance sheets for 

 examination. Mr. Davie has adopted the A. O. 

 U. nomenclature, and mucli has been added to 

 the general description of nestings, localities, 

 and measurements. We should judge that it 

 will be about double the size of the previous 

 edition, and shows a marked advance. In this 

 edition Mr. Davie has received valuable assist- 

 I ance from J. Parker Norris, Esq., Oological 

 I editor of the O. & O., which insures great care 

 in the details of its make-up. This is Mr. 

 Davie's third revision and undoubtedly by the 

 time this is exhausted there will be still further 

 information to be incorporated. We suggest 

 that when any fact is noted at variance with, 

 or that has been overlooked, Mr. Davie's at- 

 tention be called to it, which will aid him in 

 his efforts to supply us with the very latest. 



We are in receipt of a copy of Eberhart's 

 Key to the Families of Insects. This work 

 fills a long vacant space in entomological bib- 

 liography and deserves the support of every 

 student of this science. It is especially adapts 

 ed to the beginner, being both comprehensive 

 and complete. 



Key to the Families of Insects, by Noble M. Eberhart, 

 B. S., 8 pp., with plate. Popular Publishing Co., 

 Chicago Lawn, 111. 



We have received the first number of W. H. 

 Foote's (Pittsfield, Mass.) publication. It is a 

 fifty-page semi-annual, devoted to ornithology 

 and oology. In typographical appearance it 

 is excellent. We wish Mr. Foote success in 

 his undertaking, but regret that he should 

 have selected a name that is of confusing re- 

 semblance to the one that we have used for 

 many years. 



Correspondence. 



Editor O. & O.: 



Have just returned from South Florida. If 

 you have any friends tell them never to go there 

 till after mosquito time. They are just a holy 

 terror, and that about half expresses it. Found 

 quite a bvuich of O. & Os. awaiting me at tlie 

 Ijost-office. 



But I had a lovely time in the interior north 

 of Okeechobee, and send you a specimen of 

 Seminole ornithological lingo that may be in- 

 teresting. I did not find the language very 

 hard to learn, and can jabber it quite fluently. 

 The grammai-, when you get the hang of it, is 



