7. 7 I Recent Literature. [October 



same subject and his successor as Curator of the Department of Birds in 

 the United States National Museum. It is needless to saj that the work 

 could scarcely have fallen into more trustworthy hands. 



The object of the work, as stated in the preface, "is to furnish a con- 

 venient manual of North American Ornithology, reduced to the smallest 

 compass, by the omission of everything that is not absolutely necessary 

 for determining the character of any given specimen, and including, 

 besides the current nomenclature of each species, a statement of its nat- 

 ural habitat and other concomitant data." Consequently the volume is 

 made up of a series of analytical keys, covering all the various grades of 

 groups from orders to subspecies. Under each genus, in case it contains 

 more than a single species, are given the characters common to all the 

 species, followed by the distinctive features of the various species and sub- 

 species. In this way reiteration is reduced to a minimum, and the text 

 compressed to the smallest practicable amount. In addition to the es- 

 sential characters of the species and subspecies, however, their various 

 stages of plumage are concisely indicated. The strictly biographical mat- 

 ter consists of a brief statement of the character of the nest and eggs, 

 and the habitat. 



The classification, nomenclature, and numeration "correspond strictly 

 with the 'Check List of North American Birds' published by the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union." The species added or described since the 

 publication of the 'Check List' have, however, been interpolated in their 

 proper places, and besides these many extra-limital species have been in- 

 cluded, but are distinguished from the strictly North American by being 

 given in smaller type and without numeration. The geographical limits, 

 so far as the numbered species are concerned, are those of the A. O. U. 

 'Check List'; "but practically these limits have been enlarged so as to in- 

 clude all the species known to inhabit Socorro Island, off the coast of 

 Northwestern Mexico, which is decidedly Nearctic, or North American, 

 in its zoological affinities, while in many cases other extra-limital species 

 have been included, for the sake of comparison and also on account of the 

 greater or less probability of their occurrence within the southern boun- 

 dary of the United States," or in Alaska. These extra-limital species, 

 however, include many not likely to be found within the United States, 

 since the Mexican, Central American, Cuban, and Bahaman species of 

 characteristically North American genera, and the genera of these regions 

 belonging to North American families, are also embraced, as are also all 

 the species of the order Tubinares belonging to genera which have 

 representatives in North American waters. While these inclusions, ap- 

 parently several hundred in number, have greatly increased not only the 

 size of the work but the labor of preparing it, they add immensely to its 

 value and interest. 



The 'Manual' is based primarily upon the collection of the National 

 Museum, but all the leading ornithological collections of the country, both 

 public and private, have been drawn upon for additional material, includ- 

 ing some unique and many type specimens, for which due acknowl- 



