180 Recent Literature. Apa 
sur Les Larides’ ext. de la Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1854, which I picked 
up in an old book store in Philadelphia. ‘‘ Titian Peale, Esq., Zoologist, 
etc., from his friend the author. How can I manage to get a copy of the 
Am. Expl. Exp. Zool. in exchange or sale? The Plates have not yet 
reached Europe.” Below in Peale’s hand is ‘* Rec’d June 14,55. T.R.P.” 
—WITMER STONE, Academy Natural Sctences, Philadelphia, Pa. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Keeler’s Bird Notes Afield.!— Mr. Keeler’s charming book on Califor- 
nia birds consists of a series of thirteen essays well entitled ‘ Bird Notes 
Afield,’ with an Appendix (pp. 235 — 353) containing ‘ A Descriptive List 
of California Land Birds with Key.’ The titles of the essays—‘A First 
Glance at the Birds,’ ‘ Patrolling the Beach,’ ‘A Trip to the Farallones,’ 
«A Day on the Bay Shore,’ ‘A Glimpse of Birds of Berkeley,’ ‘ March in 
the Pine Woods,’ ‘ Summer Birds of the Redwoods,’ ‘In a Mission Patio,’ 
etc.— indicate very fairly what may be expected in ‘Bird Notes Afield,’ 
if we add that they are written by a sympathetic bird lover, who is withal 
an excellent field ornithologist, possessing the literary ability to tell 
gracefully and charmingly of the bird life of California fields, seashore 
and mountains. The first essay, ‘A First Glance at the Birds’ (pp. 1-52), 
is a general review of the birds of the State, which, as a brief popular 
account, is one of the best pieces of this kind of bird literature we have 
ever read. The style is attractive, and the narrative replete with the 
enthusiasm of a true bird-lover, who writes because he has something 
to say. The other essays -are all in the same vein, and each by itself 
would be perhaps equally attractive, but as they were apparently written 
for special occasions and separate publication (several of them had 
appeared before and are here republished), there is naturally some repe- 
tition, as where the same species, appearing in several different essays, 
is repeatedly referred to in much the same language. But this is a slight 
fault, noticeable only on reading the book through consecutively. 
The ‘ Artificial Key’ to the California Land Birds is based primarily 
on color, the birds being divided into five primary groups on this basis. 
Each group is subdivided into sections, under which the species are 
arranged by their most striking features of difference, with a reference to 
the page where each is more fully described, in the systematic order of 
‘Bird Notes | Afield | A Series of Essays on | the Birds of California | By 
| Charles A. Keeler | — | D. P. Elder & Morgan Shepard | San Francisco | 
1899. — I2mo. pp. 1—vili + 1-353. $1.50. 
