^°1908^^] Recent Litetarure. 491 



or manner of occurrence in the State as a whole. The nomenclature is 

 that of the A. O. U. Check-List, brought down to include the changes 

 adopted in the Fourteenth Supplement, published in July of the present 

 year. — J. A. A. 



Penard's Birds of Guiana.' — The authors of the present work (which, 

 unfortunately for English readers, is written in the Dutch language) 

 resided for twelve years in Dutch Guiana and made a large collection of the 

 birds of that region. They therefore write from personal knowledge of 

 the birds, and are able to give much first-hand information of their habits, 

 about which little has heretofore been recorded. 



An introduction of about forty pages gives a general account of the 

 local distribution of many of the species, their breeding habits and migra- 

 tions. The remainder of the first volume treats, in systematic sequence, 

 of the species, from the Grebes to the Cuckoos. There are keys to the 

 higher groups, and descriptions of the species (in small type), followed by 

 a more or less full account of their habits and local distribution. 



Volume II, which will contain the remainder of the Picariis and the 

 Passeres, is now ready for the press, but (we are privately informed) will 

 not be published until proceeds from the first volume become available. — 

 J. A. A. 



Forbes's Statistical Study of the Mid-Summer Bird Life of Illinois.^— 



This is a summary of some of the more general results of statistical obser- 

 vations made in 1907, in the southern part of the State in June, in the cen- 

 tral part in July, and in the northern part in August, by two field observers, 

 Messrs. A. O. Gross and H. A. Ray. The character of the field work is 

 stated, the purpose of which is to obtain "a better knowledge of the signi- 

 ficance of birds in the economy of nature." The statistics here presented 

 are of much interest, as are the conclusions derived from them, which a 

 fuller survey may or may not seriously modify. The work here detailed 

 should be greatly extended, and carried on by a sufficient number of com- 

 petent field observers to enable surveys to be conducted simultaneously 

 in different parts of the State, so as to avoid the necessity of comparing 

 seasonally unlike data, as in the present instance. It is work eminently 

 well worth doing, and becomes trustworthy in proportion to its thorough- 

 ness and comprehensiveness, and which we hope to see undertaken ener- 

 getically on a large scale. The present is an excellent beginning, and the 



1 De Vogels van | Guyana | (Suriname, Cayenne en Demprara) | Door | Frederik | 

 Paul Penard 1 en | Arthur Pliilip Penard 1 [Volume I] Uitgave van | Wed. F. P. 

 Penard I Paramaribo I — No date = April, 1908. 8vo, pp. xllii + 588, with 173 

 half-tone cuts in text. Price, S5.00; postage 30 cents additional. Orders for the 

 work may be addressed to De Wolfe & Fiske Co., 16-20 FrankUn St., Boston, Mass. 



2 The Mid-summer Bird Life of Illinois: A Statisrical Study. By Professor S. A. 

 Forbes, University of lUinois. Amer. Nat., Vol. XLII, No. 500, August, 1908, pp. 

 505-519. 



