126 Recent Literature. [j a u n k 



elaborated from his journals, with side lights on the natural history, 

 physical characteristics and the varied peoples of the countries which he 

 visited and has embodied them in the attractive volume before us. 



The narrative is written in a clear, unassuming manner, which holds 

 one's attention from chapter to chapter, while excellent photographic 

 illustrations by the author add to the interest of the text. Before we reach 

 the bottom of the first page we encounter a description of the Brown 

 Pelicans of Buenaventura Bay, Colombia, and scarcely a page is passed 

 that we do not find reference to one or more representatives of the wonder- 

 ful neotropical avifauna, or the less known mammals of the South American 

 continent. 



Long museum experience may give one a reasonable familiarity with 

 South American birds, so far as the plumage of the species is concerned, 

 but we know nothing in this way of their habits — how they occur and 

 where; whether conspicuous or not; their relative abundance; the charac- 

 ter of their calls, their songs, etc., and Mr. Miller's book gives us just this 

 knowledge of the most striking species. We read his narrative and en- 

 counter one after another the birds which attract the attention of the 

 traveller just as we do the striking features of the scenery, the plant life 

 and the towns and villages, and can almost imagine that we are on the trail 

 ourselves. 



The opening chapters treat of some of the Colombian explorations which 

 formed the basis of Dr. Chapman's ' Distribution of Bird Life in Colombia/ 

 reviewed in 'The Auk ' for April, 1918. Then follows a trip up the Orinoco 

 to the mysterious Mt. Duida, and a short sojourn in British Guiana. We 

 then pass to the Roosevelt expedition, to which Mr. Miller was attached 

 as one of the field naturalists, and read of hunting and collecting experiences 

 in Paraguay and Brazil and the descent of the Rio Gy-Parana, which one 

 part of the expedition explored while Col. Roosevelt and the rest of the 

 party descended the Rio da Duvida (now the Rio Teodoro). Mr. Miller's 

 next expedition was down the west coast of Peru, across to central Bolivia 

 and down into Argentina. 



Besides the constant incidental mention of birds throughout the text, 

 two chapters are devoted almost entirely to ornithological matter. One 

 of these is entitled 'In Quest of the Cock-of-the-Rock,' a search which 

 resulted in the discovery of the nest eggs and young of this curious, crested, 

 scarlet Cotinga, an inhabitant of the subtropical zone of the Colombian 

 Andes, its nesting site being the wet cliffs adjoining mountain waterfalls 

 in the densest forest. ' Bird-nesting in Northwestern Argentina ' is another 

 chapter dealing largely with birds, including an account of a search for an 

 obscure species of Tapacola (Scytalopus). Incidentally there is considerable 

 discussion of the nesting habits of the Cowbird of the region, Molothrus 

 bonariensis, and of its most frequent victim, the Ovenbird (Furnarius rufus) . 

 Not infrequently the Cowbird lays several eggs in the same nest and in the 

 case of one Mockingbird's nest Mr. Miller found no less than fourteen eggs- 



