376 



Recent Literature. \ ^^ 



common knowledge by being rendered available to the reading world 

 at large, he must turn to works of reference. The Century Dictionary 

 was not comparable with anything that preceded it, but in the Standard 

 Dictionary we have a volume which may fairly be contrasted with 

 Webster, our previouslj' generally accepted authority. 



Making our comparison from a purely ornithological standpoint we 

 turn at once to the noun "bird" with the following results: Webster 

 gives simply the literal and accepted meaning of the word followed by 

 a comment on its use in place of the more correct term "fowl." The 

 Standard Dictionary gives both definitions with tw-o additional unim- 

 portant ones and supplements these by a figure showing the topography 

 of the external parts, of which forty-seven are designated, and a full-page 

 plate illustrating twentj'-two species in color. Further comparison con- 

 firms this surprising difference in treatment of ornithological terms. 

 Especially is this true in the case of more technical words as for 

 example: Caligula, dromseognathus, schizopelmous, schizognathus, zygo- 

 dactylous, etc., all of which are illustrated. On the other hand we find the 

 special ornithological meaning of such common words as " penciled " 

 or "speckled " explained by cuts of a penciled feather and speckled &^%. 

 Zoogeography, a term unknown to Webster, is illustrated by a map 

 giving the faunal provinces of the world. We regret, however, to see 

 that the divisions of Sclater and Wallace are given rather than the 

 more recent systems, which have been largely accepted by later students 

 of this subject. Genera are, as a rule, omitted, but orders, suborders, 

 families and subfamilies of birds are included with brief but satisfactoi-y 

 definitions, as for example: Anatidie, "A family of natatorial birds with 

 the edges of the bill lamellate or toothed, generally inckiding ducks, 

 geese, swans, and mergansers." Oscines, "a subclass of passerines, 

 especially those with several pairs of muscles attached to the upper 

 bronchial semi-rings, forming an apparatus for singing; including 

 thrushes, sparrows, etc." 



Species are given only under English names and the adjectival form 

 of the family is frequently made to do duty as a definition. Thus the 

 Albatross, Cormorant, and Flamingo are defined respectively as diomed- 

 eoid, phalacrocoracoid, and phcEnicopteroid birds. Aside from this rather 

 objectionable method the matter imder species is clear and full, descrip- 

 tions of plumage and structure, range, popular synonyms and occasion- 

 ally characteristic habits being given. 



The work is lavishly illustrated, birds receiving their full share of the 

 cuts, our American species being particularly well cared for in this 

 respect. Thus, taking a letter at random, we find twentj'-three species 

 figured under S. These figures are evidently largely adapted from 

 various sources and while often antiquated are for the greater part 

 helpful. 



The special nature of this review prevents us from calling attention 

 to the numberless admirable features of this magnificent work, but we 



