V0l .S^ VI ] Recent Literature. 289 



onlv a few, comparatively speaking, yet remain. As he says: " From the 

 time the birds leave the frozen Northland, until the survivors return to 

 it again in the ensuing year, the hunted fowl run the guantlet of a 

 nation in arms; and no sooner do they pass the boundaries of the land 

 they seek in the spring for the purpose of reproduction, than the natives 

 continue the slaughter of the birds until they depart for southern climes. 

 Is it any wonder that their numbers are diminishing; is it not rather a 

 wonder that so many are left?" 



In an 'Introduction' of six pages the author gives an excellent sum- 

 mary of the leading characteristics of the Duck tribe in general. The 

 'keys' and other technical matter are relegated to a 40-page Appendix, 

 Avhere also various points of nomenclature and classification are con- 

 sidered. He gives his reasons (which are further elaborated in this 

 number of 'The Auk,' pp. 226-229) for placing all of the Swans in the 

 genus Cygnus, and for rejecting Olor as untenable. He also claims the 

 tenabilitv of the genus Exanthemops for Ross's Goose, and refers the 

 Wood Duck to the Old World subfamily Plectropterinrc, where we 

 think it quite as much out of place as it is in the Anatin?e. His claims 

 for Exanthemops are quite in harmony with his view of genera among 

 the Water Fowl, for he has not only raised all of the groups formerly 

 recognized in the A. O. U. Check-List as subgenera to the rank of full 

 genera, but also separates generically the Canvas-back from the Redhead. 

 He also adopts various emendations of names previously proposed by 

 the 'good spellers.' 



The 63 full-page plates are mostly, as in the previous volumes of this 

 series, by Edwin Sheppard, but four are by the late John Wolf, and quite 

 a number by the author, in each case reduced by Mr. Sheppard from 

 larger drawings. There is also a frontispiece, giving a very good like- 

 ness of the author. 



As the author has had a wide experience with the birds in life of which 

 his books treat, much of what he has to say of their habits and distribu- 

 tion is given from personal knowledge. — J. A. A. 



Thompson's ' Wild Animals I have Known. ' 1 — Of the eight charming 

 stories brought together and beautifully illustrated under the above title 

 only two, ' Silverspot' and ' Redruff ,' relate to birds. But the ornitholo- 

 gist who once takes the book in hand will doubtless find its pages, with 

 their effective illustrations, too fascinating to wish to lay it finally aside 

 till all have been read. The 'stories' are, as described in the title page, 

 ' personal histories ' of animals Mr. Thompson has studied in life, and 



1 Wild Animals I have Known and 200 Drawings. By Ernest Setow 

 Thompson. Being the Personal Histories of Lobo, Silverspot, Raggylug, 

 Bingo, The Springfield Fox, The Pacing Mustang, Wully, and Redruff. 

 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1S99. Svo, pp. 35S. 



