AlA. Recent Literature. \^a. 



for a knowledge of birds he is deluded into reading a story where the 

 human element commands his interest, and if while reading he does not 

 soon learn to care for birds for their own sake, it is because his nature is 

 abnormally unsympathetic. 



The plan of the book will explain how well adapted it is to achieve this 

 end. 'Dr. Roy Hunter' with his daughter, nephew and niece, a country 

 boy and two or three others, are passing the summer at ' Orchard Farm,' 

 and the book is made up of a series of field and study talks in which the 

 children are eager questioners and often keen observers, while the Doctor 

 is ever present to explain in an alwaj's interesting manner the signifi- 

 cance of the scenes from bird-life by which they are surrounded. The 

 children themselves are so bright, the Doctor so responsive, that other 

 children reading this record of a summer with the birds will not only 

 become attached to its human characters, but to its feathered ones as 

 well, and at the same time will unconsciously absorb an extensive and 

 correct knowledge of ornithology. 



The text is made more real by Mr. Fuertes's beautiful drawings, and 

 their charm in turn is increased by the text, which makes us regard them 

 as we would the portraits of the leading chai-acters in a fascinating 

 story. It is evident, therefore, that both authors and illustrator have made 

 not only an important contribution to literature and art, but that they 

 have rendered an invaluable service to science in so sharpening the 

 entering wedge of bird-lore, that it may now find openings which before 

 were closed to it. — F. M. C. 



Birds of Maine.' — Mr. Knight and his confreres deserve the thanks of 

 all ornithologists for rendering accessible so large an amount of informa- 

 tion concerning the birds of Maine. The list proper enumerates 316 

 species and subspecies as known to occur in the State. After each species 

 an outline of its general status as a Maine bird is given, and this is 

 followed by a brief statement of its manner of occuri-ence in each county, 

 based on the notes of many observers whose names are placed in 

 parentheses after the remarks for which they are responsible. To this 

 list, occupying pp. 13-132, are appended sections on ' Introduced Species,' 

 the Domestic Pigeon and House Sparrow being here included ; a ' Hypo- 

 thetical List,' giving 27 species, and a ' Summary' in which an analysis 

 of the avifauna of the State is presented. There is also a brief but 

 well considered essay on ' Faunal Areas' with special reference to the 

 distribution of life in Maine, while a Bibliography and an Index complete 

 an excellent piece of work. — F. M. C. 



' Bulletin No. 3. | The University of Maine | Department of Natural 

 History. | A List of the | Birds of Maine | Showing their Distribution by 

 Counties and their Status in each County. | Prepared under the auspices of 

 the United Ornithologists of Maine | By Ora W. Knight, B. S., | Assistant 

 in Natural History. | Augusta | Kennebec Journal Print | 1897. — 8vo. pp. 184. 



