VO i'8^ 111 ] Recent Literature. ^ \ 



double purpose. It does not give these stragglers undue prominence and 

 it permits a much fuller treatment of the native species. Probably no 

 book on British birds which is at all comparable with this in size, contains 

 such extended accounts of their life histories. 



In writing these biographies Mr. Hudson aims to give us the character- 

 istic habits of the species rather than a too finely spun sketch, which, 

 however well it depicted his own experience, might be quite at variance 

 with the results obtained by other observers. " Birds are not automata. 

 but intelligent beings," and resemble each other in habits onlv up to a 

 certain point. It is to this point that Mr. Hudson's biographies bring us. 

 We wish, however, he had included a paragraph on distribution, a matter 

 to which he gives little attention locally, while the fact that the birds he 

 writes of are found outside of Great Britain is rarely stated. 



The value of this book is greatly enhanced by its illustrations. These 

 are not only of rare beauty but they are evidently drawn by artists who 

 are familiar with their subjects in life. Furthermore, they possess the 

 latterly unique merit of being drawn expressly for the work in which 

 they appear. 



Mr. Beddard's prefatory chapter of thirty-eight pages on 'Anatomy and 

 Classification' treats briefly, but in a manner likelv to interest beginners, 

 of the more characteristic avian organs. He concludes with a classifica- 

 tion of the orders of birds, in which, among living forms, he begins with 

 the Ratita' and ends with Psittaci ! Not that he lias "a deep-seated and 

 mysterious reason " for placing the " Parrots at the end of the A.ves Cari- 

 nata'," but simply through "sheer inability to place them anywhere in 

 particular." This is evidently not an application of the decidedly original 

 principle expressed on the preceding page, to the effect that, "the more 

 perfect our scheme of classification, the greater our ignorance of the 

 group classified.'* — F. M. C. 



Bendire on the Cowbirds.' — The parasitic habits of the Cow birds 

 render them a peculiarly interesting group, consisting of about twelve 

 species, commonly referred to the two genera Molothrus (8 species) and 

 Callothrus (4 species). They are of course all confined to the two Amer- 

 ican continents, ranging from southern Canada to Paraguay. The species 

 of Callotkrus are essentially tropical, ranging from Mexico through 

 Central America to northern South America, one only, C. robustus, 

 barely reaching southern Texas; while Molothrus is represented from the 

 colder temperate parts of North America southward across the tropics to 

 temperate South America. Very little is known of the habits of manv of 

 the species, only our own Molothrus ater, anil the .1/. bonariensis, M. 



'The Cowbirds. By Major Charles Bendire, Honorary Curator of the 

 Oological Collections, U. S. National Museum. Reprinted from the Report 

 of the U. S. National Museum for 1893 (1895), pp. 587-624. pll. 1-3. 



