2 20 Recent Literature. [Apr. 



become acquainted, in the absence of any such aid, with the birds of 

 Oregon on first visiting the State a fevv years since. 



The subject matter is arranged under seven chapter headings, with 

 supplemental matter in the form of keys for identification, etc. Chapter 

 V, ' How to name the Birds,' occupies about two thirds of the book, and 

 contains brief 'general descriptions ' of the species treated, consisting of 

 a short summary of the external characters of each and a brief notice of 

 its song and leading personal traits, followed by a more detailed or 

 ' particular description ' of its external appearance. The species are 

 arranged in heterogeneous order, on the principle "mainly .... of inter- 

 est and discovery rather than the one of artificial classification "; but some 

 offset to this disorder is furnished by the list of the species at the end of 

 the book, where they are enumerated in the order of the A. O. U. Check- 

 List. 



This 'First Book' will undoubtedly prove a great help to those for 

 whom it has been especially prepared, and the issue of a second " cor- 

 rected and enlarged edition " within three weeks of the publication of the 

 first, indicates that it is meeting with a cordial welcome from the bird- 

 loving portion of the public in the States to which it relates. — J. A. A. 



Witherby's 'Bird Hunting on the White Nile.' ' — Mr. Witherby's 

 little book is an interesting narrative of his experiences during a collecting 

 trip to the Soudan in 1900, including an account of the country and the 

 people as well as of the birds and mammals. The chapter on 'Camping 

 and Collecting,' as well as that entitled ' Birds,' is especially instructive 

 and entertaining. At the end of the book a nominal list is given of the 

 birds collected or observed, and another of the mammals. A more 

 extended and formal report on the birds was published in ' The Ibis ' for 

 1901 (pp. 237-27S). The chapters composing the present work were pub- 

 lished serially in the journal ' Knowledge ' during 1901, but their interest 

 well warrants their republication in a more convenient and permanent 

 form. — J. A. A. 



Publications Received. — Bangs, Outram. (i) Description of a new 

 Woodpecker from Chiriqui. (Proc. N. Engl. Zool. Soc, II, pp.99, 100, 

 Dec. 30, 1901.) (2) On a Second Collection of Birds made in Chiriqui, 

 by W. W. Brown, Jr. {Ibid., Ill, pp. 15-70, Jan. 30, 1902.) 



' Bird Hunting | on the | White Nile | a Naturalist's Experiences in the | 

 Soudan. | By | Harry F. Witherby, ] Fellow of the Zoological Society; Mem- 

 ber of I the British Ornithological Union; Author of "Two Months on the 

 Guadalquiver," etc. | London : | The Office of "Knowledge," | 326 High 

 Holborn, 1902. — 8vo, pp. 1 17, with numerous half-tone illustrations. Price, 

 2s 6d. 



