1S92.] Recent LUerdtiire. 2oI 



Refore reading ' Wood Notes Wild ' we requested a pianist to play all the 

 bird songs given in the first part of the book, while without looking at the 

 page we attempted to identify each song as it was played. There are here (pp. 

 1-102) the songs of forty-one species. With thirtj-nine of these we 

 are perfectly familiar. The result was as follows : — 



Thirty-three conveyed absolutely no impression, we could not even guess 

 at their identity ; while, of the remaining eight, five were named correctly. 

 The species whose songs were recognized were Chickadee, Chipping Spar- 

 row, White-throated Sparrow, Wood Pewee, and Qiiail. Making due 

 allowance for the difference in tone between a piano and a bird's voice, 

 this result, from the ornithologist's standpoint of identification, is disap- 

 pointing and forces the conclusion that each bird must be the interpreter of 

 its own song. But if in attempting the impossible Mr. Chenej- has shared 

 the common fate, as a lover of nature's voices he has written some charm- 

 ing sketches of bird life, and we cannot but regret that so sympathetic a 

 writer should have left us so brief a record of his observations in the woods 

 and fields.— F. M. C. 



Oustalet on the Birds of Patagonia.*— The present volume gives a very 

 full account of what is known of the birds of Antarctic America, in- 

 cluding southern Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, 

 and the various smaller islands of the neighboring Antarctic Seas. 

 The work is based primarilj' on the rich collections formed by Dr. 

 Hyades, Dr. Hahn, and M. Sanvinet, of the French Scientific Mis- 

 sion to Cape Horn, hut includes also the collections made by M. 

 Lebrun and the officers of the 'Vftlage,' in southern Patagonia. In- 

 stead of limiting the work to these collections, however, Dr. Oustalet 

 has utilized the specimens collected by the various earlier French expedi- 

 tions to this general region. The species of which specimens were actually 

 in hand from the region in question number about 100, but 104 others are 

 introduced as of actual or probable occurrence, on the basis of the literature 

 of the subject. The species of the first catalogue (pp. 4-248) are treated 

 at considerable length, the literature of the subject being fully cited, and 

 much space given to the subject of their geographical distribution, and 

 occasionally to questions of relationship and nomenclature. The annota- 

 tions also include notes made by the collectors on the color of the 

 eyes, beak, feet, etc., and the contents ot the stomach. The volume 

 closes with a synoptic table of the geographical distribution of-' un total 

 de 204 especes pour les oiseaux qui out ete rapportes par la Mission du 

 cap Horn ou qui ont ete recueillis par d'autres expeditions dans la 

 Patagonie proprement dite, au sud du Rio Negro, sur la Terre de F'eu, la 

 Terre des Etats, les iles avoisinantes, ou dans I'archipel des Malouincs " 

 The work is accompanied by six beautiful colored plates of (mostly) 

 previously unfigured species. — ^J. A. A. 



♦Mission scientifique du Cap Horn, 1882-1883. Tome VI. Zoologie. Oiseaux, 

 par E. Oustalet. 4to. pp. 341, pll. 6. Paris, 1891. 

 36 



