g6 Recent Literature. ["jaii' 



communications on the nesting habits of a number of species, and some 

 discussion under 'Instinct and Nest-building' of Wallace's theory that 

 young birds learn to make their nests because they have themselves been 

 reared in one, the experience of various contributions being to the effect 

 that birds in captivity nest ' true to type' when the conditions are favor- 

 able, regardless of whether reared in a topical nest of their own species 

 or not. 



The magazine is evidently an authority in its own field, and an 

 invaluable medium of communication and bond of union between the 

 members of the Avicultural Society, which was founded in 1894, and has 

 shown substantial and steady growth. — J. A. A. 



Seth-Smith's Handbook of Parrakeels.' — Part VI, concluding this 

 excellent work,' has been received, comprising pages 217-281, i-xx, and 

 three colored plates, representing five species. The scope of the work, 

 as defined by the author, is as follows : "Scientifically speaking, there is 

 no distinction between a ' Parrot ' and a ' Parrakeet,' the latter word being 

 purely a popular term used for the smaller Parrots. It cannot be applied 

 to any particular family, or subfamily, nor to those species with long or 

 short tails. The gigantic Macaws are never called Parrakeets, but they 

 are closely related to the Conures, and possess the long tails that one 

 generally associates with Parrakeets. The title of this work, must, 

 therefore, be interpreted in the sense in which it is generally used by 

 aviculturists — that is, to mean the smaller Parrots, whether they possess 

 short tails or long, whether they have ordinary or filamented tongues." 

 The work, however, is not intended as a monograph of all the species, 

 but only of the imported species, or those known to the author to have 

 been imported. The number included in the present work is 131 species, 

 of which colored figures are given of 33, and text figures of 23, mostly 

 additional to those shown in the colored plates. 



The general character of the work has already been given in our notice 

 of Parts I-V (Auk, XX, pp. 322, 323), and we need add little more than 

 to say that the author has provided for the large nvimber of aviculturists 

 and others interested in this class of popular cage birds a manual giving 

 a large amount of interesting information concerning their habits and 

 distribution in a wild state, their proper treatment in confinement, descrip- 

 tions by which they may be easily identified, and very useful colored fig- 

 ures of many of them. — J. A. A. 



* Parrakeets. | A Handbook to the Imported Species. | [Vignette] By j 

 David Seth-Smith, M. B. O. U., F. Z. S. | Whh Twenty Coloured Plates and 

 other Illustrations. | London : | R. H. Porter, | 7, Prince's Street, Cavendish 

 Square, \V. | 1903. — Svo, pp. i-xx + i-aSt, with 20 colored plates and num- 

 erous text-figures. 



