ICJ2 Recent Literature. [April 



if the condition of their being heard were, that they should be able to do 

 as well themselves. 



The text is very original, resting almost entirely upon the personal ob- 

 servations of the authors. It has no literary merit, unless directness and 

 clearness be such. It resists the usual temptation to prepare full biogra- 

 phies of the birds, confining itself strictly to the subject in hand. Each 

 article opens with general statements regarding the bird in its Ohion as- 

 pects, continuing with the 'locality,' 'position' and 'materials' of the nest, 

 descriptions of the 'eggs, "differential points' of the same, and concluding 

 remarks at large. The text is almost entirely from the pen of Dr. Howard 

 E.Jones, and the plates have in nearly every instance been drawn from 

 fresh material collected by this author, mainly in the vicinity of Circleville. 

 The project was initiated by Miss Genevieve Estelle Jones and Miss Eliza 

 J. Shulze, who determined in 1S77 to make a series of colored plates. The 

 sad death of the former young lady, August 17, 1879, an< ^ the withdrawal 

 of Miss Shulze in April, 1880, threw the work upon the hands of the Jones 

 family. Dr. N. E. Jones assumed the expense of the work, Mrs. N. E. 

 Jones proceeded with the plates, Dr. Howard Jones (brother of Miss Gene- 

 vieve) undertook the text as already said, and subsequently Miss Nellie 

 D. Jacob of Circleville, Miss Josephine Kippart of Columbus, and Miss 

 Kate Gephart, of Circleville, were engaged to assist Mrs. Jones in the col- 

 oring. Had the result been but a measured success instead of a remarka- 

 ble accomplishment, great credit would have been due to all concerned. 



The Introductory is a general sketch of the Birds of Ohio. It appears 

 that of summer residents there are 129; of permanent residents, 41 ; prob- 

 able residents and summer residents, 42. This category is followed by a 

 systematic, annotated list, copied from Dr. J. M. Wheaton's work, noting 

 292 species known to occur in the State. 



A quite original and peculiar 'Key to the Eggs' follows. The eggs are 

 found to be groupable by color in the following manner: I. Eggs plain. 

 A, white or whitish ; 22 spp. B« blue or bluish, green or greenish ; 17 spp. 

 C, some other plain color as buff, etc. ; 5 spp. II. Eggs marked. A, B, C, 

 as before, as to ground color; A, 56 spp. ; B, 20 spp. ; C, 25 spp. And in 

 every case in this remarkable set of tables, the eggs are not only thus 

 classified, but described concisely, with measurements of length and 

 breadth, the linear arrangement in each group being according to size. 

 It is a very pretty and effectual piece of work. 



Among appendicular matters is an 'Etymological Key,' in which Rev. 

 S. H. McMullin undertakes to give the English equivalents of all the 

 Latin and Greek names of the birds, and offers quite as much ornithophilo- 

 logicality as the average bird-lover may require. — E. C. 



Ridgway's Nomenclature of Colors and Ornithologists' Compendium.* 



*A I Nomenclature of Colors | for Naturalists, | and | Compendium of Useful Knowl- 

 edge I for Ornithologists. | By | Robert Ridgway, | Curator of Birds, United States 

 National Museum. | With ten colored plates and seven plates | of outline illustrations 

 Boston: | Little, Brown, and Company. 1886. 8vo., pp. 129, pll. i-xviii, faced by ex- 

 planatory leaves. 



