128 Recent Literature. [j a u n 



Martinus Nijhoff, we learn that the complete work is to consist of five 

 volumes, two of eight parts, two of seven and one of ten. Each part will 

 contain ten plates and four or five parts will be issued annually so that 

 there will be in all 400 plates while the undertaking will require from eight 

 to ten years for completion. 



The two parts already issued give promise of a work that will be the 

 standard authority on the birds of the Netherlands and a fitting companion 

 to Mr. Van Pelt Lechner's ' Oologica Neerlandica ' published a few years 

 ago by Mr. Nijhoff, and reviewed in these columns. The text of the 

 present work consists of sections dealing with each order, family and genus, 

 covering structural characters and matters of nomenclature and distribu- 

 tion, as well as keys to the genera and species. Under each species are 

 given the original reference and a full synonymy of references to the bird 

 in the Netherlands; then follows a fist of the Dutch vernacular names and 

 the most familiar English, French and German names. The various 

 plumages are described with more than ordinary detail, with measurements 

 of specimens, and there are full accounts of the distribution of the species, 

 dates of occurrence in the Netherlands and manner of nesting, with descrip- 

 tions and measurements of the eggs. 



The colored plates, from paintings by Mr. M. A. Koekkoek, are excellent 

 of their kind, and fully up to the standard of most works of this sort; 

 the coloring is accurate and all matters of detail are worked out with the 

 greatest care. Of course they are not to be compared with the work of 

 Thorborn, Fuertes and some of the other leaders in bird portraiture, who 

 present to the life the characteristic actions and postures of the birds as 

 well as colors and proportions, but they are nevertheless admirable illus- 

 trations, well above the average. There is some range of variation in the 

 execution too, and the plates of the Little Grebe, Fulmar and Storm Petrel 

 are worthy of especial mention. A particularly praiseworthy feature of 

 the illustrations is the large number of figures that are given of the same 

 species in order to show the variations due to season, sex and age, which 

 is a great help to a proper understanding of the plumages. 



The text is, of course, wholly in Dutch but nevertheless Dr. Van Oort's 

 work is one which should be in all reference libraries, in this country as 

 well as in Europe. 



In matters of nomenclature the author seems to be quite up to date so 

 far as can be judged from the two parts of the work before us. The name 

 Colymbus is, however, used for the Loons and Podiceps for the Grebes, 

 apparently on the basis of Gray's designation of arcticus as the type of the 

 former (in 1855); this, however, we fear cannot hold as Gray was not 

 dealing with the tenth edition of Linnaeus' ' Systema,' when the designa- 

 tion was made, but with that of 1735. 



The typography, paper and general makeup of the book are excellent 

 and fully up to the publisher's high standards. We congratulate both 

 author and publisher upon the first parts of this notable work and wish 

 them all success in completing their task. — W. S. 



