52 Recent Literature. [January 



Shufeldt's 'Myology of the Raven.'* — This work, as stated in the title, 

 is intended as 'A Guide to the Study of the Muscular System in Birds, 

 and as such should be a welcome addition to the literature of avian anat- 

 omy. The Raven is chosen as the basis of the work on account of its 

 being "a large representative of a very numerous and cosmopolitan family 

 of birds, the Corvidje," some near ally of which hence becomes readily 

 accessible to students everywhere. It forms also a monograph of the 

 muscular system of one of the leading Oscinine types, copiously illus- 

 trated by original drawings by the author from actual dissections. Much 

 of the work appears to have been done under the unfavorable circum- 

 stances attendant upon isolation from libraries and museums. Since the 

 work appeared, rather more than a year since, it has been extensively 

 reviewed, by both favorable and unfavorable critics. While not an ideal 

 production, its utility for the purpose for which it was written is beyond 

 question, as it subserves a purpose no other work in English so well 

 meets. The muscular system being to some extent variable in different 

 types of birds, the more prominent departures from the structures met 

 with in the Raven are generally more or less fully noted. The author 

 acknowledges his indebtedness to many of the leading writers on the sub- 

 ject, and closes his volume with a bibliography of "important works and 

 papers treating of the muscles of birds, compiled, abridged, and rearranged 

 from the bibliographical lists of Hans Gadow" and other sources. He 

 gives also in copious footnotes the synonymy of the principal muscles, as 

 given by Gadow in his work on the muscles of birds in Bronn's 'Klassen 

 des Thier-Reichs.'as well as much descriptive matter from the same 

 source, transcribed from the original German without translation, also 

 numerous extracts from the writings of Garrod and Forbes.— J. A. A. 



BoUes's 'Land of the Lingering Snow. 'f— This little book is a series of 

 delightful sketches of rambles in the vicinity of Cambridge, with excur- 

 sions to Cape Cod, Wachusett and Chocorua, at various dates from Janu- 

 ary to June. Several of the essays are distinctively ornithological, 'as 'The 

 Bittern's Love Song,' 'The Vesper Song of the Woodcock,' 'The Coming 

 of the Birds,' 'A Forest Anthem,' etc., while all have a distinctly orni- 

 thological flavor, and record many observations of special interest, woven 

 in with charming allusions to the ever changing face of nature under tiie 

 varying aspects of winter, spring, and early summer. Everywhere the 

 author gives evidence of the poetic sense, keen sympathy with nature, 

 acute powers of observation, and an ability to portray with unusual skill 

 and realistic effect the scenes noted amid storm and sunshine as winter 

 passed on through spring into summer. — J. A. A. 



* The I Myology of the Raven | {Corvus corax sinuatus). \ A Guide to the Study of 

 the Muscular System | in Birds. | By | R. W. Shufeldt. | London: | Macmillan and 

 Co. I and New York | 1890. 8vo., pp. xix+ 343, with about 90 figures in the text, 



tLand of the Lingering | Snow | Chronicles of a Stroller in | New England I from 

 January to June | By | Frank Bolles. 1 [Vignette] Boston and New York | Houghton, 

 Mifflin and Company | The Riverside Press, Cambridge | iSgi, iqmo., pp. 234. 



