1885.] Recent Literature. cSt 



funnel in December, and others, apparently hut a short time dead, in a 

 hollow sycamore in February. 



The ornithologist will be surprised at many of" the facts recorded in 

 Dr. Abbott's book, and will feel inclined to think that New Jersey birds 

 have ways of their own, particularly as regards times of migration. The 

 Bank Swallow, for instance, is repeatedly said to be the earliest of all the 

 Swallows to arrive in spring, and the last to disappear in autumn, the 

 date of arrival being 'often as early as the 10th of March,' and that they 

 depart late in October, or may remain longer, 'undaunted by the chill 

 November fogs.' The experience of other observers is quite different, 

 the Bank Swallow being almost universally reported as the latest to arrive 

 of all the Swallows, and one of the earliest to leave in autumn. Dr. 

 Abbott's dates for the spring arrival are a month earlier than those given 

 for the latitude of Washington, and two months earlier than the dates 

 usually given for their arrival in the Middle and Eastern States! Instead 

 of being the earliest of the Swallows to arrive in spring, it is commonlv 

 preceded by a full month by the White-bellied Swallow, — -at least this is 

 the uniform testimony of all previous writers. There are many other 

 marked discrepancies between the behavior of birds in New Jersey — partic- 

 ularly as regards migration — as reported by Dr. Abbott, and as observed in 

 contiguous territory by others. New Jersey Owls seem also possessed 

 of eccentricities, since in Dr. Abbott's chapter on \\ Secluded Corner.' 

 we are regaled with an account of a family of Short-eared Owls observed 

 '•during a pleasant moonlight evening last October,'" the younger mem- 

 bers of which are represented as still too young to be able to fly well or 

 to provide for themselves. Strangely, too, for Short-eared Owls, their 

 nest was l in a tree.' Short-eared Owls outside of New Jersey have the 

 habit of nesting much earlier than this, usually in the Middle and 

 Eastern States, from April to June: furthermore, their nesting place is 

 on the ground, usually in marshes, and not in trees. But the Owls are 

 not the only peculiar creatures which enter into this pleasing story, New- 

 Jersey frogs having also strange habits, since the "racket made by the 

 frogs.' on this beautiful October evening, did not wholly prevent Dr. 

 Abbott's hearing the 'varied utterances' of the Owls. Even as a piece of 

 natural history romance, 'A Secluded Corner' is far from a success, while 

 as a piece of sober narrative, detailing facts of observation, as it purports 

 to be, it is a most unfortunate composition.* since such interludes of 



* In the desire not to do the author injustice, his attention was called to some of the 

 eccentricities of New Jersey birds as narrated in his book, and since the above was 

 written we have been favored with a brief reply, in which he says he has "found Otus 

 brachyotus nesting in a capacious hollow of a tree — not a cooped up hole that would suit 

 a little Screech (S. asio)." He also says "October should read August" and that Bank 

 Swallow "should read White-bellied." It strikes us, however, that the substitition of 

 August for October illy harmonizes with the context, while to substitute White-bellied 

 Swallow for Bank Swallow results in an incongruity bordering upon absurdity, as may 

 be readily seen by referring to p. 100, and especially by reading pp. 161-163, as well as 

 other passages in the book. 



