130 Recent Literature. [j an 



We notice but one new swift, Zoonava francica obcrholseri (p. 253), for 

 which no type specimen is cited though we infer that the type locality is 

 the Fiji Islands. 



In connection with the name Nephoecetes which Mr. Mathews changes 

 to Nephoccetes he has perhaps overlooked the article in ' The Auk ' 1899 

 (pp. 20-23), by the late Dr. Gill in which it is shown that the former 

 spelling is the one which occurs first in the volume. While its use on 

 ]>. xviii (Baird, Cassin and Lawrence, Birds of North America) may be 

 regarded as a nomen nudum that on p. xxix, where it is definitely connected 

 with the species niger Gmelin, cannot be disregarded. 



Under the Cuckoos we note as new: Vidgenia (p. 311) type, Cacomanlis 

 castaneiventris and a race C. rubricatus eyeri (p. 320), from Eyer's Penin- 

 sula, S. Australia. 



While the text as usual is largely devoted to nomenclature and classifica- 

 tion, there are many notes of importance on the habits of the various 

 species, and a vast amount of data on the parasitism of the Cuckoos. 



There is a typographical error to which attention might be called on 

 p. 247, where Mr. DeWitt Miller's name is cited as " Delbitt " Miller. 



Mr. Mathews has now covered 404 species of the Australian avifauna and 

 by consulting his ' Reference List ' we should judge that he had his gigantic 

 task more than half completed. He certainly is to be congratulated upon 

 the persistence with which it has been carried on in spite of the war and its 

 resultant hindrances, and we wish him all speed and success with the 

 succeeding parts. — W. S. 



Beebe's ' Jungle Peace.' ' — In ' The Auk ' for 1917 we had the pleas- 

 ure of reviewing Capt. Beebe's ' Tropical Wild Life in British Guiana,' 

 the report of the first season's work at the tropical research laboratory of 

 the New York Zoological Society. This was of necessity a record of 

 scientific achievement and was written in that spirit. In ' Jungle Peace ' 

 however, the author tells the same story in a way that appeals more directly 

 to the layman. But be he scientist or layman, the reader who is fond of 

 nature or of travel, and who picks up Capt. Beebe's little volume, will not 

 be likely to lay it aside until he has read it through. To use his own words, 

 the author has in this volume stolen " quietly up the side aisle of the great 

 green wonderland, looking at all things obliquely, observing them as 

 actors and companions rather than as species and varieties, softening facts 

 with quiet meditation, leavening science with thoughts of the sheer joy 

 of existence." 



There is much the same charm in his writing that one finds in John 

 Burroughs' books, but his field is much broader and he opens up a new 

 world to his readers. The wild life of which he writes is far beyond the 



1 Jungle Peace. By William Beebe, Curator of Birds, New York Zoological Park, and 

 Director of Tropical Research Station. Illustrated from Photographs, New York. Henry 

 Holt and Company, 1918, pp. 1-297, price, $1.75. 



