348 Recent Literature. \f^^. 



LJuly 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Eaton's ' Birds of New York.'' — No comprehensive work on the birds of 

 New York has been pubhshed since the appearance of DeKay's quarto 

 in 1844 and therefore, Memoir 12 of the State Museimi (New York State 

 Education Department) promises to be a most welcome contribution to 

 the ornithology of the Empire State, judging by the first volume, which 

 has just come to hand. 



Mr. Elon Howard Eaton, who has spent five or six years in gathering 

 and arranging the data, is to be congratulated on the results embodied in 

 this first part, which covers the Water Fowl, the Game Birds and the 

 Pigeons. The number of species accredited to the State has increased 

 from 301 to 411 in the sixty-four intervening years and two heavy cjuartos 

 take the place of DeKay's single volume. The opening chapter is a 

 'Summary of the New York State Avifauna,' the birds being classi- 

 fied in groups of 'residents,' 'summer residents,' 'transients,' '\\inter 

 visitants,' 'summer ^^sitants,' and 'accidental visitants.' Then 

 follows a chapter on the 'Life Zones of New York State,' accompanied by 

 maps showing the distribution of some thirty species of the land birds and 

 a table illustrating by a graphical method the relative zonal abundance 

 of all of the birds of the State. The photographic maps are perhaps 

 superior to anji:hing yet published in a work of this character, being shaded 

 to show elevation and with the distribution indicated by oblique red lines, 

 but it is to be regretted that the lettering is so indistinct as to be well-nigh 

 illegible. Those of us weak in geography would have liked besides a map 

 showing the localities cited. There are also preliminary chapters on 

 'The Mt. Marcy Region,' 'The Increase and Decrease of Species,' 'Sug- 

 gestions to Bird Students,' 'Bird Migration,' 'Spring Arrivals,' 'Published 

 Local Lists,' 'County Schedules,' and 'Classification.' The remaining 

 half of the text is given up to the birds of the State arranged in systematic 

 order, every species being concisely described, and concerning many of 

 them is found also a wealth of original information, classified under the 

 headings 'Field Marks,' 'Distribution,' 'Migrations,' 'Haunts and Haliits,' 

 'Nest and Eggs,' 'Food,' and some others. Forty-two colored plates, 

 by Mr. L. A. Fuertes, conclude the volume. 



Mr. Eaton has followed the A. O. U. Check-List in classification and in 

 scientific names, but in the use of vernacular names he has yielded to the 

 modern fad of discarding capitals and suppressing the possessive case. 



1 Birds of New York. By Elon Howard Eaton. = Memoir 12, New York State 

 Museum. John M. Clarke, Director. Part I. Introductory Chapters; Water 

 Birds and Game Birds. 4to, pp. 501 (facing leaves to plates numbered as pages; 148 

 pp. of tabular matter, unpaged, between pp. 86 and 87), 42 colored plates, and 

 numerous, half-tone illustrations in the text. Albany: University of the State of 

 New York. 1910. 



