00 Recent Literature. [January 



Turdidre,* which, as developed in the above-named and in the present 

 work, is open to the charge of being illogical and inconsistent with the 

 author's platform of principles. In illustration we may cite his treatment 

 of the Gvrfalcons. He says there are li tzvo species of Jer-Falcons, very 

 distinct from each other, and having well-defined geographical ranges, 

 but connected together bv a scries of intermediate forms in the interme- 

 diate localities.' 1 '' We are at a loss, however, to understand what is meant 

 by species, in view of the two parts of the above quotation we have dis- 

 tinguished by italics. The heading 'here adopted is "Falco gyrfalco and 

 Falco candicans. Brown Jer-Falcon and White Jer-Falcon." Under 

 this the synonymy is grouped under four subheads, as follows: (i) 

 Falco gyrfalco; Brown Jer-Falcon. (2) Falco gyrfalco candicans; Ice- 

 land Jer-Falcon. (3) Falco candicans gyrfalco; South Greenland Jer- 

 Falcon. (4) Falco candicans: White Jer-Falcon. After detailing the 

 various intermediate stages he says : "The selection of any one of these 

 intermediate forms is purely arbitrary; and between the two extreme 

 forms it is just as easy to make ten subspecies as two." His recognition 

 of two species then (not subspecies) within this group must be purely 

 arbitrary and without reason, as he appears to admit, species seeming to 

 rest on no different basis from subspecies ! We believe, however, that 

 Mr. Seebohm, in theory at least, stands on firmer ground than this, and 

 that his paper on the subject of trinomial nomenclature, read at the 

 meeting of British naturalists convened last July to consider this 

 subject,! indicates that he has now reached better footing. 



Mr. Seebohm here and there finds occasion to criticise the work of 

 some of his fellow ornithologists, and the unsparing hand with which he 

 sometimes belabors his unfortunate victim indicates that he is by no 

 means lacking in what has been termed the courage of conviction ; but he 

 very cordially invites like treatment of his own mistakes. In his 

 accounts of the species treated, he gives special attention to their 

 geographical distribution, their relations to allied forms, and very full 

 details of their life-histories, often incorporating therewith much wholly 

 fresh material. Doubtless in some instances he takes a more comprehen- 

 sive view of species than some would be inclined to allow, but doubtless 

 not wider, in most cases, than his extended experience with the forms in 

 question would seem to warrant. 



As Mr. Seebohm says : "The real history of a bird is its //'/('-history. 

 The deepest interest attaches to every thing that reveals the little 

 mind, however feebly it may be developed, which lies behind the 

 feathers. The habits of the bird during the breeding season, at the two 

 periods of migration, and in winter; its mode of flight and of progression 

 on the ground, in the trees, or on the water; its song and its various 

 call- and alarm-notes; its food and its means of procuring it at different 

 seasons of the year ; its migrations, the dates of arrival and departure, 

 routes it chooses, and the winter quarters it selects; and, above all, every 



* Cf. Bull. N. O. C, VIII, pp. 100-104. 

 t See Auk, I, pp. 342-346. 



