^°^'1910^ "] ^<^^^"^ Literature. 349 



In birds called 'Wilson thrush' and 'Wood thrush,' for instance it would 

 be quite reasonable to suppose l^oth were named after persons, and where 

 we find 'South Bay, L. I.' ' Shinnecock bay,' 'Gardiners island, L. I.,' 

 'East river,' 'Le\\'is co.,' 'Montauk Point,' 'Onondaga lake,' 'Black- 

 throated blue warbler,' ' Long-Inlled marsh Avren,' and so on, we may well 

 wonder why capitals are used at all. These are, however, rather trivial 

 matters and in no wise impair the excellence of Mr. Eaton's work the 

 thoroughness of which is manifested in many ways. His descriptions are 

 good, his compilations of records are well done, and his many comparative 

 tables of spring arrivals and of analysis in parallel columns of the species 

 of different local lists are excellent. It is rather unfortunate, though, to 

 have had these voluminous tallies printed on one side only of the sheets, 

 for it has resulted in a solid half inch thickness of unnumbered pages, that 

 are a sort of huge typographical Sahara wherein one wanders about seeking 

 the oases of information. Added to the difficulty of finding one's way we 

 are confronted by a host of unfamiliar abbreviations which are explained 

 only at the top of Section 1, part 1. This necessitates too much thumbing 

 of pages with fingers stuck in to keep the place, and it is a pity we could not 

 find at the bottom of every page the meaning of such mystic symbols as 

 'c, fc,' 'unc,' 'ab,' 'oc,' 'tv, wv,' etc. For^the convenience of those 

 who use the tables it may also be stated that the migration lists are not 

 numbered at all while the local list analysis sheets are arranged so that 

 Section 1, parts 1-15, includes species from Holboell's Grebe to the White- 

 faced Glossy Ibis; Section 2, parts 1-18, continues the list to the Short- 

 eared Owl; Section 3, parts 1-21, carries it to the Cardinal; and Section 4, 

 parts 1-21, completes it. 



Mr. Eaton has introduced the feature of giving the pronunciation and 

 derivation of the Latin names, and the few slips noted are probably not 

 his fault. Coues in his early 'Keys' correctly explained the aquilus of 

 Tachypetes aquilus as an adjective, meaning "swarthy," but later when, 

 with the feminine generic name Fregata it became aqnila, he erred in in- 

 troducing the idea of "eagle," which now reappears at p. 176. The 

 tympanum of Tympanuclnis at p. 376, means a drum rather than a "mem- 

 brane," and at p. 316 is a misprint for lixavToirov;. On page 76, George 

 N. Lawrence's paper is wrongly cited, both as to title and source. It was 

 a 'Catalogue' published in the 'Annals' of the New York Lyceum of 

 Natural History of New York, but as a rule there is little need for correc- 

 tions as one turns the pages. 



The printing of the volume is good and the type well chosen and clear. 

 The coated paper, however, makes the book weigh like lead, and it is 

 particularly vulnerable to the ravages of time, so that DeKa}''s quarto 

 is likely to outlast its successor; and we believe that the photo half-tones 

 scattered through the pages would have appeared to better advantage as 

 separate plates. 



The colored plates are faithful and often beautiful portraits of the species, 

 and some of the bits of landscape are charming, but taken as a whole there 



