jg Recent Literature. 1^5 



monumental series from its predecessor.' Besides this, the work bears 

 the date of printing and not of publication, it having been printed, or at 

 least electrotyped, for more than a vear before the Government Printing 

 Office found it convenient to make the work accessible to the public. 



The high praise bestowed upon the first part of the ' Life Histories ' 

 CAuk, IX, 1892, p. 375), issued in 1892, is equally well deserved in respect 

 to the present volume. Indeed, the high standard set at the beginning, 

 both as to the text and the plates, is now, if possible, surpassed. For 

 faithful, painstaking, conscientious w^ork, these volumes are a model that 

 may well be followed in similar fields. The method of treatment is similar 

 to that of the first part, already described (/. c). Its special feature is the 

 large amount of original information conveyed, either from the rich fund 

 of the author's own experience or solicited from trustworthy correspond- 

 ents for use in the present connection. As before, extraneous and thread- 

 worn matter is excluded, a fresh harvest being given in its place. Also, 

 as before, the plates are above criticism, and have as yet never been 

 equalled in artistic effect or in faithfulness of execution. The amount of 

 work entailed in the preparation of such a volume is not easily appreciated, 

 without experience in similiar lines. 



The birds treated in the present volume comprise the Carolina Paroquet, 

 the Cuckoos and Anis, one species of Trogon, three of Kingfishers, 36 

 kinds of Woodpeckers, 11 Goatsuckers, 4 Swifts, 18 Hummingbirds, i 

 Becard, 39 Flycatchers, 13 Larks, 31 Crows, Jays and Magpies, i Starling 

 and 29 Blackbirds and Orioles — 197 in all. This of course includes 

 subspecies as well as species. The seven colored plates contain an 

 aggregate of 196 figures, all natural size, drawn by Mr. John L. Ridgway, 

 while the chromo-lithographic reproductions are by the Ketterlinus 

 Printing Company of Philadelphia. In species that lay white eggs, like 

 the Hummingbirds, Swifts and Woodpeckers, only a few figures are 

 given for each group, but in birds laying colored eggs, with more or less 

 characteristic markings, nearly every species is figured, often two or more 

 eggs of the same species being given to show diversity of marking in eggs 

 of the same species. 



In the text we have not only descriptions of the eggs and nests, and an 

 account of the general habits of the birds, but special attention is given 

 to the distribution and breeding ranges of the species. Unlike most 

 oological writers. Captain Bendire gives careful attention to the technical 

 points that distinguish species and subspecies, ot which there is ample 

 internal evidence in the volume before us. Doubtful points respecting 

 alleged distribution are worked out, wherever possible, by direct recourse 

 to the immense collection of bird skins in the National Museum, and 

 questions of relationship between closely allied forms are discussed with 



' In the ' Advertisement ' it is referred to in parenthesis as ' Special Bulletin 

 No. 3.' 



