°'i9i9 J Recent Literature. 435 



been prepared by Prof. Moseley as a school field and text book, but will 

 prove of much service to many other classes of field students. The section 

 on trees is especially suitable for autumn use, that on stars for winter and 

 the bird chapters for spring, the whole designed to encourage students to 

 observe and think for themselves. The plan is well conceived and well 

 carried out, with many practical suggestions, pertinent questions and help- 

 ful lists of reference works. Better than all, in a work of this sort, each 

 section has been submitted to a number of competent critics who have read 

 the text and offered suggestions. 



Taking up the section devoted to birds, we start with some practical 

 suggestions for bird study in the field and then, beginning with the Thrushes, 

 the various groups are considered in systematic order, while chapters on 

 migration, classification, attracting birds, etc., are interspersed as we pro- 

 ceed. The work treats almost entirely of the birds of the Northern and 

 Eastern States, and the extralimital species which are mentioned here and 

 there have not always been wisely selected. The Russet-backed Thrush, 

 the merest variety of our Olive-back, is referred to but no mention is made 

 of the very distinct Varied Thrush, and again there is mention of the 

 Florida Wren which only a specialist would recognize as in any way differ- 

 ent from the Carolina Wren, while the Gnatcatcher is omitted altogether. 

 It would we think have been better to have adhered rigidly to a definite 

 geographic area. The same criticism also extends to the colored illustra- 

 tions. There seems to be no excuse for introducing such species as the 

 California Jay and Black-headed Grosbeak in a work where the other 

 typical western birds are omitted, while worse yet is the labelling of the 

 picture of the Bronzed Grackle, " Purple Grackle " and that of the Prairie 

 Horned Lark," "Horned Lark." With such a wealth of admirable illus- 

 trations, too, it is hard to understand why such a wretchedly crude cut as 

 that of the Summer Tanager on its nest should have been included. How- 

 ever, these are but minor points in an admirable book which cannot be too 

 widely introduced into the schools of the east and which could well serve 

 as a model for a similar work on western birds. Our country is too large 

 to attempt to make one text book cover its entire area. The colored plates 

 are mainly those published some years ago by the U. S. Biological Survey 

 in the bulletin ' Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard ' and are 

 admirably printed. — W. S. 



Miss Ball's ' A Year With the Birds.' — Still another popular bird 

 book 1 which has appeared recently is Miss Ball's ' A Year With the Birds " 

 consisting of a collection of the best poems which have been written about 

 birds together with a number of original verses by the author treating of 

 the other familiar species. These embody the characters of the various 



1 A Year With the Birds, by Alice E. Ball, Illustrated by Robert Bruce Horsfall. 57 

 Colored Plates. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York City, 1918, 8vo. pp. 1-191. 

 $3.00. 



