120 Recent Literature. Ljan. 



from Gentry's 'Life-histories,' he of course taking them for bona fide and 

 reliable records, which they are not. A majority of Mr. Marshall's records 

 for North America come from these books. 



The writer is not the first to take exception to the quality of Gentry's 

 works, as anyone can learn by consulting Dr. C. Hart Merriam's review of 

 the ' Illustrations of Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States ' in 

 the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. VII, No. 4, Oct., 

 1882, pp. 246-249. 



The phase of the 'Life-Histories of the Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania' 

 with which we are at present most interested is the voluminous records of 

 bird food which the book contains. It is averred in the preface that more 

 than 700 stomachs of birds were examined. For many of the species of 

 birds lists of from 20 to more than 50 specifically named vegetable and 

 animal food items are given, and the writer is shrewd enough to give quite 

 an appearance of plausibility to these accounts, in that they conform in 

 a way to the commonly observed feeding habits, and the carnivorous or 

 vegetarian tastes of the species. It is manifest, however, that an investi- 

 gator cannot present lists of from 20 to 50 insects and seeds for more than a 

 hundred species of birds from the examination of 700 stomachs. Seven 

 stomachs per species would certainly not yield so great a variety of items 

 in condition to be fully identified — they might yield no more than three 

 or four. An obtrusive feature of the lists is the recurrence of the same 

 insect names over and over again. These things are against all experience 

 in stomach examination. 



Let us examine definite cases in which our glib author goes astray. In 

 his account of the food of the Mourning Dove (Vol. II, p. 304) he lists 

 8 kinds of insects specifically besides grasshoppers. One is a species of 

 Harpalus, a large and hard insect which would perhaps be the last we 

 should expect a dove to swallow. Examinations of more than 250 stom- 

 achs in the Biological Survey, and of more than 220 by Mr. E. A. Schwarz 

 of the Bureau of Entomology, show the Mourning Dove to be almost a 

 complete vegetarian. A list of 12 binomial " identifications " is included 

 in the account of the Hawk Owl, a species which occurs in Pennsylvania 

 only in severe winters, and very rarely then. On one page Gentry says 

 he has often seen this bird feeding, while on another he says it is only 

 occasionally met with. Lizards and Plethodon erythronotus are mentioned 

 as food items, but it is not explained how this northern breeding bird 

 would get these southerly forms which are dormant during its visits to 

 their range. The same remarks apply to his citation of Plethodon erythro- 

 notus and Pseudotriton [Spelerpes] ruber as food of the Snowy Owl. The 

 Rough-legged Hawk is said to feed on many snakes, frogs, shrews, moles, 

 bats, weasels and birds, items that subsequent stomach examinations have 

 yielded rarely, if at all. 



Six species of spiders are listed as prey of the Ruby -throated Humming- 

 bird, a better record than the Biological Survey has been able to get from 

 the examination of 59 stomachs, and the assistance of the foremost arach- 



