aaa | Feecent Literature. a7 
(p. 72) is said to be “Undoubtedly not an uncommon migrant with A. 
nelsoni,’ etc., which latter is, curiously, not otherwise mentioned. We 
have here, also, almost the only case where the changes in nomenclature 
made in the Ninth Supplement to the A. O. U. Check-List have not been 
followed in the present list. 
As a whole, the list has evidently been prepared with great care and 
thoroughness of research. In the case of the rarer species, the original 
records are cited in footnotes, and there is, besides, an extended and 
practically complete bibliography of Rhode Island ornithology, number- 
ing nearly two hundred entries. There are also two indexes, one for the 
technical names, and one for the vernacular and local names. The text 
is very tastefully printed, typographical errors are exceedingly few, 
and these are apparently all corrected in a list of errata at’ the close of 
the work. The six plates (only four of them are now first published) are 
pertinent of the subject, illustrating ‘ Purgatory,’ at Middletown, where 
Barn Swallows breed in the rocks; Mount Hope, on Narragansett Bay; 
Cormorant Rock and Tern’s nest; an Osprey nest; a Bank Swallow 
colony, and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak’s nest. The work is attractive as 
a specimen of book-making, and in every way a credit to the authors. 
—jJ. A.A. 
Newton’s ‘ Dictionary of Birds.’!— The reissue of this standard work 
in a cheaper form, yet unabridged and unchanged as regards the matter, 
will place it within reach of many who could not afford the original work. 
The paper is thinner and the volume less bulky, and thus more convenient 
for use, so that the cheaper form is in this respect rather an improve- 
ment upon the original. As the character of the work has already been 
placed before the readers of ‘The Auk,’? we need only call attention to 
the fact of its reissue at reduced cost. This is especially gratifying, there 
being no other work of similar character extant. Professor Newton’s 
masterly treatment of the general subject, and Dr. Gadow’s contributions 
on the anatomy of birds, supply a fund of information alike valuable to 
the specialist and the general reader, and render the ‘Dictionary’ a 
compendium of ornithology of unrivalled excellence. — J. A. A. 
1A Dictionary of Birds. By Alfred Newton, assisted by Hans Gadow, 
with contributions from Richard Lydekker, Charles S. Roy, and R. W. 
Shufeldt. Cheap issue, unabridged. 1 vol. 8vo, pp 1-124, i-viii, 1-1088, 
map, and numerous figures in text. The Macmillan Company, 66 Fifth Ave., 
New York. $5.00. 
2 Vol. X, 1893, pp. 357-360; XI, 1894, pp. 56-60; XII, pp. 169, 170; XIV, 
1897, pp- 234-244- 
