^"'iooy^^'l Recent Literature. 20f; 



sponge or cloth will moisten it enough to make the necessary amount of 

 arsenic adhere and to keep the skin pliable until stuffed. 



Fine sawdust or cornmeal may be used by taking care to stir while 

 heating, but plaster of Paris gives the best results, as it can be heated to 

 a much higher temperature than anything organic, and with no trouble. 

 On birds of dark colored plumage, however, plaster must be applied in 

 such a manner as not to come in contact with the feathers, as it will 

 usually stick to them enough to lighten the shade. — ^Joseph Mailliard, 

 San Gero/iimo, Alarin Co., Cal. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Barrington's ' The Migration of Birds at Irish Light Stations.' — In 

 this volume of nearly looo pages we have the results of observations, con- 

 tinuously and systematically .carried on, at the Irish light-stations fioni 

 iSSi to 1897, or for a period of eighteen years. Observations appear to 

 have been made at some fifty lighthouses and lightships, the returns em- 

 bracing about a thousand schedules and "about thirty thousand separate 

 observations," and over two thousand specimens. The elaboration of this 

 enormous amount of information involved ^ears of laboi", and Mr. Bar- 

 rington makes acknowledgment to Mr. C. B. Moffat for important aid 

 in its analysis. A list of the light stations is given as part of the intro- 

 ductory matter, which is immediately followed by ' Analysis of the Irish 

 Migration Reports, 1881-1S97 ' (pp. 1-262), the reports being summarized 

 for each of the species observed, these summaries sometimes occupying 

 several pages for a single species, including comment on the various facts 

 reported. 



The species number about 170, and are treated in systematic sequence. 

 Following this is a statement of ' Some of the Principal Points of 



1 The I Migration of Birds | as observed at | Irish Lighthouses and Light- 

 ships I including | the Original Reports | from 1S8S-97, now published for the 

 first time, and | an Analysis | of these and of the previously published Reports 

 from 18S1-87. I Together with | an Appendix | giving the measurements | of 

 about 1600 wings. | By | Richard M. Barrington, M. A., L. L. B., F. L. .S., | 

 Member of the British Ornithologist's Union, and of the British Association | 

 Committee for obtaining Observations on the Migration of | Birds at Light- 

 houses and Lightships. | London : | R. H. Porter, 7 Princes Street, Cavendish 

 Square, W. | Dublin: | Edward Ponsonby, 116 Grafton Street. [1900.] — Svo, 

 pp. i-xxv. -j- 1-28 '^ A- 1-667, niap and text cuts. Only 350 copies printed. 



