3 66 



Recent Literature. [^ t k 



with the number of specimens of each species and the locality of collec- 

 tion. The list numbers 256 species, and is preceded by a brief itinerary 

 of Col. Goss's various collecting trips to Mexico and Central America. 

 The occasional typographical errors are doubtless due to the fact that the 

 author was not permitted to revise the proof sheets, as already explained 

 above in the case of his ' Review of Kansas Ornithology.' — J. A. A. 



Cory's 'The Birds of Eastern North America. Water Birds. Part I.' ' 

 — The tendency of the present day, in the production of popular bird 

 books, seems to be to reduce the ' science of birds ' to easy terms, in response 

 to, and in stimulation of, the interest of late so generally manifested in 

 out-of-door studies. The scope and character of these attempts to popu- 

 larize bird study are as varied as their authors are numerous. In the 

 present case we have a work that is not only elaborate in its pictorial 

 details, simple in method if treatment, and comprehensive in scope, but 

 also systematic and scientific in arrangement. It is constructed on much 

 the same plan as the author's previous 'How to Know the Shore Birds' 

 (1897), and 'How to Know the Ducks, Geese, and Swans' (1898), pre- 

 viously reviewed in this journal (Auk, XIV, 1897, 41S, and XV, 1898, 

 278). 'That even he who runs may read,' a preliminary leaf facing the 

 title page contains an ' Artificial Key to distinguish Land Birds and Water 

 Birds,' which, in addition to the explanatory text, contains four cuts 

 illustrating foot structure, and full-length figures of various species of 

 Shore Birds, Gallinules, Rails, and Herons. A preface of two pages 

 explains the use of the 'Keys,' following which is an elaborately illus- 

 trated 'Glossary' of terms used in describing the principal parts of a 

 bird. In the ' Introduction ' (pp. 3-7) the structure of the wing, tail, feet 

 and bill are shown by aid of numerous cuts, and the technical terms used 

 in describing these parts are carefully defined. (We must here note the 

 strange lapsus of ' rectices ' for rectrices occurring repeatedly on p. 4.) 

 There are also diagrams and directions ' How to measure a Bird ' (pp. 8, 9). 

 Then follows an ' Index Key to Families ' of the Water Birds, with 16 cuts, 

 illustrating the structure of the foot in the various groups. From this 

 general introductory matter we pass to the ' Key to Families' (including 

 subfamilies), illustrated by cuts of bills and feet, heads, and small full- 

 length figures, the key being based primarily on the palmation, position 

 and number of the toes, the form and structure of the bill, and general size 

 (pp. 11-24). The text is brief, the cuts occupying the greater part of the 



'The Birds | of | Eastern North America | known to occur East of the 

 Ninetieth Meridian | — | Water Birds | — | Part I | — | Key to the Families 

 and Species | — | By | Charles B. Cory | . . . . [ = 10 lines, titles and list of the 

 author's principal works] | — | Special Edition printed for the | Field Colum- 

 bian Museum, Chicago, 111. | — 1899 — Sm. 4to, 1 ]., pp. i-ix 1-142, profusely 

 illustrated with halftone and line text cuts. 



