^°''ifoy"^] Recent Literature. 285 



Brown Thrasher, Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, Kingbird, Baltimore 

 Oriole, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Redstart, 

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Bob-white, Goldfinch, Blue Jav, Brown 

 Creeper, Butcher Bird, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Herring Gull, and 

 Chickadee. 



The excellence of the drawings, although not here published for the 

 first time, is a sufficient raison d''etre for the book ; their fidelity to nature 

 and delicacy of touch will render ' Bird Portraits ' a never failing source 

 of pleasure. The accompanying text by Mr. Hoffmann consists of brief 

 well written biographies of each subject, giving the characteristics of the 

 birds portrayed. While not sufficiently comprehensive to serve as a man- 

 ual of the birds of any particular locality, the work is one that will 

 prove a favorite with all nature lovers who can appreciate birds and 

 art.— J. A. A. 



Gould's ' Louis Agassiz.' 1 — Although not especially an ornithologist, 

 Louis Agassiz, the great naturalist and the great teacher, has an interest 

 and charm for all students of nature. In this little volume of 150 small 

 pages we have an admirably condensed account of his life, — brief, authen- 

 tic and fascinating. A-lthough of Europe by birth, he was an American 

 by adoption. Apropos of this, the author says : " The most valuable lega- 

 cies of scientific men are left to the whole world, with no restraint of 

 place and little of time. But there are a few gifts which they leave, as 

 other men leave them, to one country or to one community. And what- 

 ever in Agassiz's gift was necessarily thus restricted we find to-day in 

 America, not in Europe. At Cambridge stands his Museum ; at twenty 

 places on our coasts are the summer schools which have succeeded to his 

 Penikese ; and in the American world is the transmitted enthusiasm which 

 passes from teacher to scholar, — the fire that may light up a whole gen- 

 eration which has forgotten the source where it was kindled." 



At the present time when summer schools and marine laboratories for 

 teachers are taken as a matter of course, it may be well to recall the fact 

 that the first of the series was that established by Agassiz on the Island 

 of Penikese in 1872. Agassiz's method of teaching natural history was 

 not through books nor by memorizing the observations of others, but by 

 direct appeal to nature and the cultivation of the powers of observation. 

 This method was an innovation, and a most happy one, as the work of the 

 students trained under his direction has abundantly demonstrated. The 

 general public, and especialh' all lovers of nature, should feel indebted to 

 Miss Gould for her excellent epitome of the life of the gi-eat teacher. — 

 J. A. A. 



1 The Beacon Biographies of Eminent Americans. Edited by M. A. De 

 Wolfe Howe. Louis Agassiz. By Alice Bache Gould. Boston: Small, May- 

 nard & Company, 1901. 



