Vol. XXI 



iqo4 



J Recetit I^iterature. 20? 



The ' Key ' was first brought out in 1872 (ist ed.) ; a revised and greatly 

 enlarged edition (2d. ed.) appeared in 1884, so ditferenl from the first as 

 to be essentially a new work. There was a reissue of this, printed from 

 the same plates (3d. ed.), in 1887, with the addition of an Appendix; and 

 another reprint from the same plates (4th ed.) in 1890, with the addition 

 of a second Appendix. The present (5th) edition (Dec. 1903), with the 

 systematic portion rewritten and greatly augmented, is thus in reality 

 only the second revised edition of the original ' Key' first issued in 1872. 

 The last edition is so radically different from the second and subsequent 

 reprints that it is practically a new work. While the plan and general 

 make-up are the same, and while Part I, ' Field Ornithology,' and the 

 greater part of Part II, ' General Ornithology,' are textually the same, 

 Part III, the 'Systematic Synopsis,' constituting the main body of the 

 work, is wholly rewritten and greatly enlarged; the classification and 

 arrangement are somewhat altered, and the nomenclature is revolutionized, 

 to conform with, that of the A. O. U. Check-List, the author, when nec- 

 essary, often waiving his own opinions and preferences for the sake of 

 conformity with the Check-List. The change in the number and charac- 

 ter of the illustrations is also conspicuous, many of those used in the 

 earlier editions having been discarded and hundreds of new ones added, 

 most of them drawn expressly for the work by Mr. Fuertes, the general 

 excellence of which is thus sufficiently assured. In consequence of the 

 addition of about 250 pages of new matter, the ' Key ' now appears in two 

 volumes (continuously paged) instead of one, which, from the point of 

 convenience for the user, is greatly to be regretted. If the same weight 

 of paper had been used as in the 2d-4th editions the increase in bulk, in a 

 book already so large, would not have been a material disadvantage, 

 and would have been more than offset by the convenience of having the 

 index always at hand instead of at the end of a second volume. 



Volume I opens with a new frontispiece, a beautifull}' colored plate of 

 the Starling, by Fuertes, in place of the former colored illustration of the 

 ' Anatomy of the Pigeon.' The ' Publisher's Preface ' is followed b^' the 

 prefaces to the fourth and third editions, and the 'Historical Preface' 

 (pp. xi-xxx, which includes the preface to the second — 1884 — edition), 

 all naturally without change. Next stands the contents, followed by a 

 portrait of the author, and Mr. D. G. Elliot's memorial address, both from 

 'The Auk' for January, 1901. Part I, 'Field Ornithology' (pp. 1-58), 

 is reprinted without change. In Part II, 'General Ornithology' (pp. 59- 

 241), th^ first forty-four pages have been reset, to admit of various minor 

 changes, partly for literary improvement, partly for needed changes in 

 technical names, and partly for the insertion of some six pages of wholly 

 new matter, including a characteristic paragraph (p. 80) on the A. O. U. 

 Code of Nomenclature. Pages 82-89, the section on 'The Feathers or 

 Plumage,' have been rewritten and much new matter added, while pp. 92- 

 94 are also mostly new, and include about two pages of new text on 

 ' Aptosochromatism,' much of which is positively erroneous and had bet- 



