Vol 'l9l9 XVI ] Recent Literature. 121 



"speak for themselves," for they do to a remarkable degree; but there are 

 in all pictures features quite apart from the artistic quality, which we do 

 not appreciate until our attention is called to them, and some previous 

 knowledge of the subject always adds to our interest. 



At the end of each general account is a list of references, technical names 

 of animals and plants mentioned in the text, etc., correlated by page and 

 line, and printed all together in this way to avoid the use of footnotes. 

 This plan while it no doubt adds to the beauty of the text is rather incon- 

 venient for ready reference. Of the colored plates in the present volume, 

 eight are by G. E. Lodge; six by Archibald Thorborn; four by H. Gron- 

 vold and one by Charles R. Knight. The two other artists who will 

 contribute to the later volumes are Louis Agassiz Fuertes and H. Jones. 

 The original of Mr. Knight's plate was an oil while all the others were 

 water-colors; and the reproductions are by several different processes, 

 some printed upon smooth paper others on "egg-shell" — thus giving us 

 the benefit of a variety of methods, some better suited to one painting, 

 some to another, but all of such excellence that there is little choice except 

 such as individual preference may dictate. 



The vexatious question of how to treat subspecies in a work of this sort 

 has evidently caused the author no little trouble, as it has all who have had 

 to deal with it, and the method adopted will we fear prove a little confusing 

 to those not conversant with the difficulties involved. The specific aggre- 

 gate called the "Himalayan Blood Partridge" and the two races (or sub- 

 species) into which it is divided — the "Nepal Himalayan Blood Partridge" 

 and the "Sikhim Himalayan Blood Partridge" — are all considered under 

 separate headings printed in exactly the same-sized type; the first contains 

 the general information common to the two races while the last two contain 

 only special information relative to the particular race under consideration. 

 In spite of text explanations, however, we fear that the uninitiated reader 

 will think that three different kinds of birds are being treated of instead of 

 two. While well aware that this is the method adopted in the A. O. U. 

 'Check-List,' the reviewer has reached the opinion that it is far clearer, 

 either to consider the two subspecies only without reference to the specific 

 aggregate, putting the general account of habits, etc., under the first; or 

 to consider only the species, so far as headings go, and mention inconspicu- 

 ously at the end of the account, the geographic races (subspecies) into which 

 it may be divided. This is a problem of such general interest today that 

 it cannot be passed without comment. We notice also some good-natured 

 sarcasm here and there directed against nomenclature as such. "What's 

 in a name?" says Capt. Beebe; "let us pass from discussion of the arti- 

 ficial handle applied by man during the last few years of the Tragopan's 

 existence to the real vital study of the birds themselves." Nevertheless 

 he has occasion to make use of quite a number of these artificial handles 

 and to choose between the several that have in many cases been given to 

 the same species or genus. While it is gratifying to find him saying of one 



