^°1'897^^] /^cre«/ Literature. IO7 



with which Mr. Thompson illustrates his theme and proves his thesis ; and 

 it is equally true that no artist could have drawn them without a knowledge 

 of the anatomical details upon which they are based. Mr. Thompson's 

 plea is for scientific exactness as well as for artistic excellence. He 

 rightly claims that no result can be correct which is fundamentally wrong, 

 and he presents his fellow artists with a series of original studies of the 

 visible form of mammals and birds as it is governed by bones and 

 muscles, tendons, veins and nerves, hair, featliers, which they will do 

 well to consider. 



We are here concerned only with that part of the work relating to 

 birds. Plates are given illustrating the pterylosis of a typical pas- 

 serine bird {^Passer domesticus), a Kestrel {Falco alaudarius), and a 

 Qiiail (Coturnix communis). Special attention is paid to the intricate 

 arrangement of the feathers of the wing, and to the effect produced by the 

 feathers of certain pterylae when in proper position. This is further 

 shown by a remarkable drawing of the Peacock's spread train, which, 

 when in good condition, is found to present a perfect half circle, the ocelli 

 being bisected by the radii and equidistant concentric circles. 



Mr. Thompson has rendered a service to science and to art for which all 

 lovers of truth and beauty cannot be too grateful. — F. M. C. 



Miss Merriam's ' A-Birding on a Bronco '.' — ' A-Birding on a Bronco ' 

 consists of a series of nineteen chapters or studies, mostly here printed 

 for the first time, illustrated with numerous ' half-tones ' from photographs 

 of some of the scenes described and by spirited drawings of birds and 

 birds' nests by Mr. Fuertes. The scene of Miss Merriam's studies is the 

 vicinity of Twin Oaks, in southern California, " thirty-four miles north of 

 San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific," where parts of two 

 summers were spent a-field with the birds. About sixty species are referred 

 to at greater or less length, while a score or more are made the subject of 

 special study. Some twenty pages are devoted to ' The Little Lover,' in 

 other words, the Western House Wren, and as many more to the Western 

 Gnatcatcher. The chief characters of another chapter are some young 

 California Woodpeckers, while Bush-tits, Orioles, Chewinks, Humming- 

 birds, the Valley Qj.iail, the Road-runner, and others come in for a liberal 

 share of attention. Miss Merriam is a sympathetic as well as a keen 

 observer of birds in their native haunts, and relates in minute detail the 

 vicissitudes of bird-life as seen in her numerous excursions to their favorite 

 haunts. As may be inferred from the title of the book, two trusty broncos 

 — one during the season of 1889 and the other in 1894 — afforded her not 

 only hieans of easj' travel during her dailj' excursions but also pleasant 



' A-Birding on a Bronco | By Miss Florence A. Merriam | . . . . [= Motto, 

 3 lines] I Illustrated | [Vignette] | Boston and New York | Houghton, Mifilin 

 and Company | The Riverside Press, Cambridge ] 1896. — i6mo, pp. x -(- 227. 

 (Price $1.25.) 



