114 Recent Literature. [jan. 



i. e., they are full enough to answer the actual requirements of publication 

 under our code but are often not full enough to enable anyone to recognize 

 the species without consulting the type specimen. Such diagnoses are fre- 

 quently more of a hindrance than a help to the advancement of science, and 

 it seema a pity that our American ornithologists, who have set such a high 

 standard in most of their work, cannot take time to adequately describe 

 all of the new forms which they are in such haste to name, or that the 

 institutions which they represent cannot provide immediate means for the 

 publication of adequate descriptions, for we realize that the author is not 

 always to blame. A new genus Microstilbon is proposed for Microstilbon 

 inspiratus, a Bolivian hummingbird allied to Chcetocercus. — W. S. 



Kirkham's ' North and South.' ^ — Mr. Kirkham already well known 

 as a writer on nature, author of ' East and West,' ' In the Open,' etc., 

 compares, in the present volume, the aspect of nature in the Lake Coun- 

 try of New York and in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina, attempting, 

 as he puts it, "to reflect the spirit of the North and of the South, as do 

 the birch and the cypress .... to make you hear in an inner ear the ringing 

 call of the Carolina wi-en and to become suddenly conscious of the perfume 

 of jasmine; or to hear the eerie song of the upland plover descending from 

 the sky, and again to be dimly aware of water lilies and the lapping of little 

 waves on a summer day." That he has succeeded admirably in his under- 

 taking his readers will, we think, unanimously agree. 



Mr. Kirkham evidently possesses an accurate knowledge of the birds, 

 flowers, trees and insects and an ability to treat of them as he finds them; 

 to bring before us not only the characteristics of the species of which he 

 writes but also the more subtle spirit of their environment. This con- 

 stitutes his interest in nature, and he has little sympathy for the man who 

 never gets beyond the bare facts. He says " you have perhaps kept a 

 record of birds and flowers, and have devoted much time and energy to the 

 matter, but this is the most elementary work. You will graduate someday 

 from bookkeeping unless you aim to remain a bookkeeper all your days. 

 .... Ornithology, like everything else, will be just as commonplace as the 

 mind that pursues it." He apparently forgets that some people are unable 

 to get beyond the 'bookkeeper' stage, and even in attaining that, they 

 may derive as much pleasure and benefit from the study of nature as the 

 more gifted writers who, like our author, are privileged to soar to greater 

 heights. The two spots of which this volume treats are a summer camp on 

 the shore of Canandaigua Lake, N. Y., and a winter home near Milford, 

 S. C. Besides frequent casual mention of birds there are two chapters 

 that deal entirely with them. 'Birds about the Camp' treating of the 

 northern locality and 'Winter Bird Life' with the southern. 



' North and South. Notes on the Natural History of a Summer Camp and a 

 Winter Home. By Stanton Davis Kirkham. G. W. Putnam's Sons. New Yorli 

 and London. The Kniclterbocker Press, 1913. 8vo. pp. 1-286. $1.75 net. 



