66 Recent Literature. \un 



apt to create contusion. Doubtless such would be the temporary result 

 in this and all similar instances when errors are corrected which have 

 been continued by writers who have simply followed each other without 

 making independent investigations ; but the confusion is originally caused 

 by those who commit errors, not by him who corrects them. ... It inav 

 be inconvenient for those who have become familiar with any special 

 group to have their ideas of its nomenclature disturbed, by showing that 

 errors have been committed and then knowingly continued ; but that 

 would be a most indefensible reason to advance why these should not be 

 corrected. . . . Conservatism is an excellent principle when it serves as 

 a bulwark against the commission of abuses, but is a most baleful prin- 

 ciple when it is exerted against the correction of errors." Part V, not 

 vet published, will conclude the work. — J. A. A. 



Two Popular Bird Books. — That there has recently sprung up a 

 great popular interest in outdoor studies of nature is abundantly evi- 

 denced by the frequent appearance of non-technical works, particularly of 

 works relating to birds. It is furthermore a subject of congratulation 

 that such works show a steady improvement, not only in literary execution, 

 but in the knowledge of the subject displayed on the part of the writers 

 of such books. Also that the demand for them renders it feasible for 

 publishers not only to bring them out, but to give to them an attractive 

 setting as regards typography and illustration. Mr. Keyser's 'In Bird 

 Land,' and Mr. Parkhurst's 'The Birds' Calendar' are recent ventures in 

 the line of popular bird books. 



Mr. Keyser's book ' relates especially to the birds found about Spring- 

 field, Ohio. It consists of eighteen chapters, originally published in 

 various periodicals during the last two or three years. It has a more 

 distinctly literarv flavor than Mr. Keyser's former collection of papers," 

 and abounds in poetic quotations, chiefly from the writings of Emerson 

 and Lowell. The following ti-anscript of the titles indicates the general 

 style of treatment : ' Wayside Rambles ' ; ' Bird Curios ' ; ' Winter Frolics ' ; 

 ' February Outings ' ; ' Arrival of the Birds ' ; ' Winged Voyagers ' ; ' Plumage 

 of Young Birds'; 'Nest-Hunting'; 'Midsummer Melodies'; 'Where Birds 

 Roost'; 'The Wood-Pewee'; 'A Pair of Night-Hawks '; 'A Birds' Gala- 

 Day'; ' Various Phases of Bird Life'; 'A Bird Anthology from Lowell,' 

 etc. The writer is an earnest and true bird lover, who wanders in all 

 weathers and at all seasons in search of bird friends. He tells pleasantly 

 what he sees, often with realistic detail, and shows himself to be not only 



' In Bird Land | By | Leander S. Keyser | . . . . [ = 9 lines of poetic quota- 

 tions and monogram] | Chicago [ A. C. McClurg and Company | 1894. 

 i2mo., pp. 269. 



* Bird-dom. i2mo., 1891. See Auk, IX, p. 63. 



