^''^igif^'^] ^<^cen/ Literature. 125 



us tending to give more stability to our nomenclature."^ This is certainly 

 a new departure in type designation, it generally being held that in the 

 case of speciesless genera the type must be some species described before 

 the founding of the genus on which the genus was obviously based. If 

 Penguinus was founded on an indeterminable species, the genus itself must 

 necessarily share the fate of the species on which it was founded. Such 

 action is antagonistic, in spirit if not in letter, to Article XXX of the 

 International Code of Nomenclature, which provides that the type selected 

 must be one of the originally included species. Although the characters 

 of Penguinus might fit several then undescribed species none of them, 

 when later described, can be properly available as its type. — J. A. A. 



Abbott's 'The Home-Life of the Osprey'. — In a Httle volume^ 

 of 53 pages of text and 45 photographic illustrations, Mr. Abbott is able 

 to give an account of the home-life of the Osprey, or Fish Hawk, in minute 

 detail, from long study of the species at various points on the coast of New 

 Jersey, at Gardiner's Island, New York, and at Great Lake, North Caro- 

 lina, beginning with its arrival in the waters near New York about the 

 end of March and ending with its departure early in October. Although 

 the subject is not a new one, Mr. Abbott has made excellent use of his 

 opportunities and, aided by the camera, has given us a thoroughly complete 

 history of the ' home-life ' of this interesting species, as studied particularly 

 at Gardiner's Island and along the coast of New Jersey. Every feature is 

 beautifully illustrated in the accompanying photographs, mostly taken 

 by himself. The varied character of its nesting-sites and nests, its manner 

 of fishing, the care of its young, their development and behavior while 

 in the nest, the devotion of the parent birds to their young and to their 

 homes, its manner of fishing and carrying its prey, are all sympathetically 

 told in the text and effectively illustrated in the excellent plates. The 

 work is a worthy successor of the similar monographic studies that have 

 preceded it in the ' Bird-Lovers' Home-Life Series ' of its enterprising pub- 

 lishers, Witherby and Co. of London. In concluding his excellent mono- 

 graph Mr. Abbott says: " There is a nobility and dignity about this bird, 

 an industry and inoffensiveness of life, a tender affection for its mate and 

 young, that can only bring increasing admiration with acquaintance." — 

 J. A. A. 



Publications Received. — Abbott, Clinton G. The Home-Life of the 

 Osprey. Crown 4to, pp. 44, 32 photographic plates. London, Witherby 

 & Co. 6s. net; special ed., 10s. 6d. net. New York, Brentano, $2 post- 

 paid. 



1 Not italicised in the original. 



2 The Home-Life | of | the Osprey | Photographed and Described. | By I Clinton 

 G. Abbott, B. A. | Associate of the American Ornithologists' Union | With some 

 Photographs by Howard H. Cleaves, Associate of | the American Ornithologists' 

 Union | With Tliirty-two mounted plates | London I Witherby & Co., 326 High 

 Holbom, W. C. I MCMXI. — pp. 54, 32 photographic pll. Cloth, 6s. net; .special 

 edition, 10s. 6d. net. For sale also at Brentano's, 229 Fifth Avenue, New York. 

 $2 post-paid. 



