Review of Literature 51 



conditions and on species that are generally identified with ease 

 on sight the observer's findings should not be condemned because 

 the experiences of others have not precisely fallen into the same 

 category. 



I hope that this comment will give some benefit in bird study 

 for the Kansas records, and I believe that these criticisms are 

 very much worth while in stimulating interest in the development 

 of records and helpful in perfecting them. 



David C. Hilton. 



REVIEW OF LITERATURE 



What Bird is That? A Pocket Museum of the Land Birds of 

 the Eastern United States Arranged According to Season. By 

 Frank M. Chaprhan, Curator of Birds in the American Museum of 

 Natural History and Editor of " Bird-Lore." With 301 Birds in 

 color by Edmund J. Sawyer. D. Appleton and Company. New 

 York. London. 1920. 



In this little book of 144 text pages, and six pages of discus- 

 sion of " Birds and Seasons," and the 301 colored figures of birds, 

 which are arranged on eight full page plates, Mr. Chapman has 

 put within reach of all a handy little volume which should be the 

 companion of every lover of birds who is not sufficiently familiar 

 with the common land birds to feel confident of their identity at 

 sight. One great merit of the colored figures is that all are drawn 

 to scale on each separate plate. Many of the colored figures are 

 admirably done as to pose, proportions and color. A very few 

 would, of course, be of little use for purposes of either field or 

 laboratory identification, partly because they have no distinctive 

 features, notably the small flycatchers and some of the sparrows. 

 We cannot but exclaim over the mechanical accuracy which is 

 shown in the color plates. One of them contains fifty-five figures, 

 and yet not one of them is blurred in the copy at hand. The book 

 is small enough and light enough to be easily carried as a field 

 companion. It is fully up to the high standard of excellence of 

 Mr. Chapman's various writings. 



A Distributional List of the Birds of Montana. With notes on 

 the migration and nesting of the better known species. By Aretas 

 A. Saunders. Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 14. Cooper Ornitholog- 

 ical Club. 



In this list there are 337 species treated, including one extinct 

 and four introduced species, but not counting 13 treated as hypo- 

 thetical. The book begins with a discussion of the distributional 

 areas of Montana, with accompanying map. This discussion is 



