Vol. XXXIin 



1916 



] Recent Literature. 443 



An Index to ' Bird-Lore.' ^ — To those who have had occasion to compile 

 information upon any species of bird or upon the birds of any State the 

 need of an index to 'Bird-Lore' has at once been apparent. Only by going 

 over the index or contents of each volume separately could the vast store 

 of data contained in this journal be made available. We were therefore 

 prepared to welcome any general index that might appear and the one that 

 has been compiled by Mr. Ernest Ingersoll and published by the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, will doubtless meet the requirements 

 of the majority of those who will use it. Unfortunately, however, when 

 compared with the two indexes to ' The Auk ' compiled respectively under 

 the direction of Drs. Jonathan Dwight, and Theodore S. Palmer, it falla 

 far below their standard of excellence. 



A perusal of a few pages shows an evident lack of system in the com- 

 pilation. Of two titles ' Photographing a Ruffed Grouse ' and ' Photo- 

 graphing a Virginia Rail ' for example, one is indexed under ' photograph- 

 ing ' the other under ' Virginia,' though we find references also under 

 ' Grouse ' and ' Rail.' Two others, ' A Crow Study ' and ' A Hermit 

 Thrush in Winter ' appear respectively under ' a ' and ' Hermit,' and we 

 fail to find the latter under ' Thrush ' where the other references to the 

 species occur. While it is the evident intention to index each article under 

 the author and the bird of which it treats, we find that in many cases one 

 reference or the other has been omitted. However indexes are thankless 

 jobs and the present one will answer the purposes of the majority of those 

 who use it, and be a great help to all. But it seems unfoi'tunate that 

 where so much effort has been expended, a little more care was not exercised. 

 A series of page references to papers relating to the birds of each State and 

 country would also have been a welcome addition.— W. S. 



A Bibliography of British Ornithology. ^ — For thirty-six years the 

 only work dealing solely with the bibliography of British Ornithology has 

 been the fourth installment of Dr. Coues ' famous 'Ornithological Bibliog- 

 raphy.' The present work by W. H. Mullens and H. Kirke Swann is 

 much more pretentious than that of Dr. Coues and is arranged on a different 

 plan. It contains biographical sketches of most of the authors, which 



'■ An Index to Bird-Lore. Volumes I to XV, inclusive, containing a Reference to Every 

 Contributor, Article and Topic; an Analytic Index to the Colored Plates and other Illus- 

 trations; and an Index to Books and Periodicals Reviewed. Compiled by Ernest Inger- 

 soll. For sale by the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New 

 York City. 1916. Price 50 cents. 



- A Bibliography of British Ornithology from the Earliest Times to the End of 1912. 

 Including Biographical Accounts of the Principal Writers and Bibliographies of their 

 Published Works. By W. H. Mullens, M. A., LL.M., F. L. S., M. B. O. U. and H. Kirke 

 Swann. "Let no man who writes a book presume to say when he will have finished. 

 When he imagines that he is drawing near to his journey's end, Alps rise on Alps, and he 

 continually finds something to add and something to correct." MacMillan and Co., 

 Limited, St. Martin's Street, London. 1916. Svo. Pt. 1. pp. 1-112, 6/net. To be 

 completed in about six bi-monthly Parts. 



