ISS7-] Recent Lite rat ii re. I C I 



ing in the pages of the 'Nuttall Bulletin' and of 'The Auk.' It now gives 

 us real pleasure to record the completion of so meritorious and important 

 a publication, pushed with every painstaking through a period of eight 

 years to a successful termination. Circumstances have been against the 

 authors in more ways than one. which one alone would have led most 

 persons to abandon the project. But they have steadily persevered, and 

 the result is one which will take its place among the most original and 

 most notable treatises on ornithology which have appeared in this country. 

 It might be going too far to say that the work does for caliology and 

 oology what Audubon's did for its own subject; but if the drawings and 

 writings of the latter had been confined to the birds of a single State, the 

 comparison would hold. Several treatises on eggs and nests, more or less 

 ambitious, have been essayed, but they have all broken down, though most- 

 ly projected under more favorable circumstances than this one. With 

 little encouragement from high sources, with less assistance still, and 

 with no adequate pecuniary support, it required courage, patience, and en- 

 thusiastic devotion to a purpose to accomplish such a result — circum- 

 stances which, in these days of that easy book-making which results in 

 such hard book-reading, carry us in mind back to Alexander Wilson's 

 appearance before the public with the first two volumes of 'American Orni- 

 thology' under his arm. 



The work is simply admirable. Its cost may place it beyond the reach 

 of many working ornithologists, but it should be found in our principal 

 libraries, as we have no doubt that it will. In Ohio, at any rate, it should 

 not be beneath the notice of the Legislature, with reference to those edu- 

 cational institutions which are under legislative jurisdiction. 



Upwards of one hundred species of eggs are figured in colors by hand, 

 usually with several specimens of each, showing the variations in size, 

 shape and markings. Their average excellence — for they vary somewhat 

 — has not been equalled in this country, and they are surpassed only by 

 the best productions of foreign artists. No such series of the figures of 

 nests has ever appeared anywhere. Nests are often introduced as acces- 

 sories of figures of birds, as they were, notably, by Audubon, and many 

 very pretty and effective woodcuts of these objects are extant. But these 

 are a larger collection than have appeared together before; they are life- 

 sized and life-colored — if such expressions be permitted, and many of them 

 tjre introduced with their accessories. In some cases the eggs rest in the 

 nest, and the whole effect is singularly true to nature. There is room for 

 criticism, as where is there not? But we imagine few critics would speak, 



Apr., 1885, pp. 207-234, pll. lviii-lx. Parts 21, 22 (Double No.), pp. 235-286^11. Ixi-lxvi 

 ("July to") Oct., 1886. Part 23, Dec, 1886, pp. i-xxxviii, xxxviii-a-^, 287-329, pll. Ixvii- 

 Ixviii. 



Title, etc., pub. with Part 23. Title, p. i ; Dedication, p. iii ; Preface, pp. v-viii ; Intro- 

 ductory, pp. ix-xxxiii, including Lists of Ohio Birds : Key to the Eggs of the Summer 

 Residents of Ohio, pp. xxxiv-xxxviii, xxxviii a-d; Main Text pp. 41-314; Etymo- 

 logical Key, pp. 315-320; Names of Subscribers, pp. 321-322; Index to Illustrations, 

 pp. 323, 324 ; General Index, pp. 325-329. 



