Handbuch der Systematischen Ornithologie 27 



younger ornithologists. Regular gatherings were assumed 

 to be impossible, hence the expedient of cooperation through 

 correspondence was hit upon as the instrument to bring 

 about the results aimed at. That good has resulted from this 

 necessarily rather loose organization cannot be denied, as 

 witness the several papers of no mean value which were based 

 upon this idea of cooperation by correspondence. 



The time came when a change was demanded, and it was 

 made. Now the time has come when another more profound 

 change is demanded, and it has been made. That it will result 

 in a decided forward movement those who have lived the life 

 of the Club are confident. 



DIE VOG EL— HANDBUCH DER SYSTEMATISCHEN 

 ORNITHOLOGIE. 



BY DR. ANTON REICHENOW. 

 A CRITIQUE BY W. F. HENNINGER. 



(Read at the meeting of the Wilson Ornithological Club, at Chicago, 

 February 6, 1914.) 



The first volume of this work contains one map, 185 cuts 

 and 529 pages.* The writing of this phenomenal work was 

 caused, according to the author's own words, by the fact that 

 in spite of the richness of German ornithological literature 

 there was no German "Handbuch" or Manual of Systematic 

 Ornithology in existence that took into consideration all the 

 existing forms of birds. To supply this obvious need Dr. 

 Anton Reichenow has presented us with a splendid work, that 

 gives us in terse language as complete a ^Manual as seems 

 necessary for placing a bird in a system of classification and 

 in its proper relation to other forms. It is limited in its 

 scope, however, as to subspecies and closely related species. 

 Still all European birds, all the birds of the German colonies 



* The second to be published in the summer of 1914. 



