^°'i9lf ^"^1 R<^cent Literature. 405 



mend them to all interested in the subject. They are moreover admirable 

 pieces of book making, the paper, typographj' and binding being all that 

 could be desired, while a number of half-tones, photogravures and maps 

 add to their attractiveness. We may mention especially the frontispiece 

 to volume one from a painting by Marian Eagle Clarke showing the Eddy- 

 stone Lantern on the night of October 12, 1901, with swarms of migrant 

 birds hovering about in the brilliant illumination. — W. S. 



Pycraft's ' A History of Birds.' ^ — There is no recent book with which 

 we are famihar that gives one a better idea of the breadth of ornithology 

 than this volume and probably no book that the student of birds could 

 read with more profit. Too many ornithologists are inclined to be narrow 

 in their views of the study and to them such a work as Mr. Pycraft has 

 produced will prove a revelation. 



The amount of information that the author has managed to crowd 

 between the covers of his book is amazing and no matter what the particu- 

 lar branch of ornithology in which we may be interested we are bound to 

 find here illustrations that are new and comments that are suggestive. 

 We may of course be able to pick out weak points in the treatment of 

 certain subjects to which the author has never given especial study, and a 

 few of his quotations may be from sources not thoroughly reliable, but 

 slight delinquencies are inevitable in a work of such broad scope, and its 

 general excellence and reliability are remarkable. Mr. Pycraft's keynote 

 in this work is evolution; and he considers almost every conceivable phase 

 of the relationship of birds to their environment and to one another. 



His theories are often highly original and while there may be room for 

 arguments on the other side, he never fails to present the matter in such a 

 way as to provide ample food for thought. His chapters cover the fol- 

 lowing subjects. I. Introductory — General Structure of Birds; II-III. 

 Phylogenetic — Origin and Relation.ship of Birds; IV. CEcological — Dis- 

 tribution, etc.; V. Seasonal Life; Effect of Light, Moisture and Tempera- 

 ture; VI. Migration; VII. Relations to Animate Environment; VIIT. 

 Peculiar Interrelations; IX. Phases of Social Life; X. Relations of the 

 Sexes; XL Nidification; XII, Concerning Eggs; XIII-XIV. Care of the 

 Offspring; XV. Nestling Birds and what they Teach; XVI. The Life- 

 History of Birds. XVII. Variation; XVIII. Acquired Characters; XIX. 

 Natural Selection as Apphed to Birds; XX. Artificial Selection; XXI. 

 Sexual Selection; XXII. Isolation; XXIII-XXV. Structural and Func- 

 tional Adaptations; XXVI. Convergent Evolution. 



Mr. Pycraft's vast knowledge of avian anatomy enables him to cite 



I A History of Birds. ! By | W. P. Pycraft | Zoological Department British 

 Museum. | With an Introduction by l Sir Ray Lankester, K. C. B., F. R. S. | and 

 numerous Illustrations and Diagrams | Methuen and Co. I 36 Essex Street. W. C. 

 London [1910] — 8vo, pp. i-xxxi + 1-458, with 50 text illustrations and 37 plates, 

 including frontispiece in colors. Price 10s. 6. net. 



