V ° I 'isas XV ] Recent Literature. 89 



That Prof. Herrick's volumes contain references to all the existing matter 

 relating to the ornithologist we doubt, and he would probably be the first 

 to admit this possibility. The very amount of material, astonishing as 

 it is, that he has gathered together only makes it more probable that 

 there are yet other published notes and manuscripts undiscovered, but 

 they are not likely to alter in any material way the history that he has 

 written, even while his pages were going through the press several notes 

 have appeared in print, among which we may mention the description of 

 Audubon republished by John H. Sage in ' The Auk' (April, 1917, p. 

 239). Another article in the same journal ' Miss Lawson's Recollections of 

 Ornithologists ' by F. L. Burns (July, 1917, p. 275), corrects a statement 

 regarding Wilson which we notice Prof. Herrick has perpetuated, i. e. refer- 

 ring to " his fingers stiffened by the hard labor of his hands." This we 

 always thought to have been a fiction of some of his biographers, as he 

 wrote a beautiful hand, played skilfully on the flute and worked at the 

 loom, none of which accomplishments accord well with " hands knotted 

 and hardened by labor," these points Miss Lawson emphasizes adding 

 that her mother spoke of Wilson's hands as small and delicate. 



In closing, we should like to emphasize in the strongest terms Prof. 

 Herrick's plea for the restoration and preservation of the dwellings of 

 Audubon and his sons in New York City which " though in dire neglect, 

 are not beyond repair," and that the ground where they stand, between 

 Riverside Drive and the Hudson River, should be converted into a real 

 Audubon Park. As he truly says " such a memorial would contribute to 

 the instruction and pleasure of all the people, for every generation of 

 Americans that is to come " — and we may add that this closing sentence 

 of Prof. Herrick admirably describes the volumes that he himself has given 

 to the public, the contents of which we have here endeavored to describe. — 

 W. S. 



The New ' Birds of America.' ' — The present work the publishers tell 

 us in the preface is put forth to meet the demand for a single work which 

 will present " a complete review of what is known today about American 

 birds." While this is a pretty large task even for the imposing array of 

 authors and artists whose names appear on the title page to say nothing 

 of the advisory board of nineteen more, nevertheless we think that the 

 work will fill a very general need. It is by all odds the most thoroughly 

 illustrated work on North American birds that has yet appeared and the 

 great demand for the admirable colored plates of Mr. Fuertes, which 



1 Birds of America. Editor-in-Chief, T. Gilbert Pearson; Consulting Editor, John 

 Burroughs; Managing Editor, George Ghdden; Associate Editor, J. Ellis Burdick; Special 

 Contributors, Edward H. Forbush, Herbert K. Job, William L.Finley and L. Nelson Nichols. 

 Artists, L. A. Fuertes, B. B. Horsfall, B. I. Brasher and Henry Thurston. The University 

 Society Inc. New York (1917). Vol. I, pp. i-xviii, + 1-272; Vol. II, pp. i-xiv, + 1-271; 

 Vol. Ill, pp. i-xviii, + 1-289. 4to, numerous illustrations, and 110 colored plates. Com- 

 prising Volumes I— III of the 'Nature Lovers' Library '. 



