1887.] Rece?it Literature. \ C "1 



— Mr.Ridgway's little manual will doubtless prove of great utility, and 

 should meet with a hearty welcome. It consists of two parts. Of Part I, 

 'Nomenclature of Colors,' some twenty pages are devoted to 'Principles 

 of Color,' and consist largely of directions as to the selection of pig- 

 ments and their combination to form certain desired tints. This is fol- 

 lowed by a 'Comparative Vocabulary of Colors,' giving the equivalent 

 names in English, Latin, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, 

 and Danish, occupying nearly twenty pages more. Two pages of 'Bibli- 

 ography' complete Part I, which is illustrated by ten hand-colored plates. 



Part II is entitled 'Ornithologists' Compendium,' and is made up large- 

 ly of a 'Glossary of Technical Terms used in Descriptive Ornithology,' 

 which occupies nearly one-half of the book; it is illustrated by six plates 

 of outline figures, three of which are devoted to the 'topography' or 'exter- 

 nal anatomy' of a bird, two to various forms of color-marks on feathers, 

 and one to egg-contours. Another plate gives a comparative scale of 

 measurement standards, as the English inch, the French inch (pied du 

 roi), and millimetres. 



Part II closes with a table showing "the equivalents in English inches, 

 and decimals thereof, of every tenth of a milimetre, from 1.0 to 100.9, "and 

 another "for converting English inches and decimals into millimetres." 

 The author acknowledges his indebtedness to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger not 

 only for suggesting these useful tables but for their preparation, and for aid 

 in compiling the comparative color-vocabulary. 



In Part I of the present work Mr. Ridgway has attempted a difficult task, 

 requiring much research, a nice display of judgment, and other qualifica- 

 tions which only experience and skill as a colorist, combined with critical 

 knowledge of the requirements of descriptive ornithology, could give. 

 The details of the subject afford much latitude for a diversity of opinion; 

 and whatever the results attained, they would be more or less subject to 

 adverse criticism, especially in regard to the proper designation of partic- 

 ular shades of color. "Undoubtedly," as the author says, "one of the 

 chief desiderata of naturalists, both professional and amateur, is a means 

 of identifying the various shades of colors named in descriptions, and of 

 being able to determine exactly what name to apply to a particular tint 

 which it is desired to designate in an original description." There being 

 no modern work of this character extant, Mr. Ridgway has very laudably 

 attempted to supply the want. While he has supplied a standard for color 

 nomenclature — and so far as we can see an excellent one — it fails by far, 

 from the nature of the subject, to clear away all the difficulties, since the 

 names of colors in current use are in many cases both vague and variable. 

 The general adoption by future describers of the standard here set would 

 do much to improve matters, and would give a uniform basis for color- 

 nomenclature ; but it would be, unfortunately, highly unsafe to attempt to 

 make the standard retroactive, and interpret by it the color descriptions of 

 the already existing literature. But this is no fault of the present author 

 or his system; and his work as a whole cannot fail to be extremely useful. 

 Part II must prove especially welcome to all beginners in ornithology, to 

 whom, however, its usefulness will be by no means limited. — J. A. A. 



