So Recent Literature. Xj"^ 



owing to its geographical position and peculiar physical characteristics, 

 and Mr. Brewster's detailed and painstaking analysis of its bird life is a 

 most welcome addition not only to the literature of ornitliology but to 

 geographical zoology. — J. A. A. 



Henshaw's ' Birds of the Hawaiian Islands.'' — The author modestly 

 says: "There being at present no popular work upon Hawaiian birds, the 

 present little volume has been prepared with the view of breaking ground 

 in this department, and with the hope that it maj' prove of assistance to 

 those who are already bird-lovers and, as well, may stimulate others to 

 become sucii." While thus avowedly popular in character, it is much out 

 of the line of ordinary popular bird books, inasmuch as it deals with ques- 

 tions outside of the usual range of such works. Nearly the first quar- 

 ter of the book is devoted to such general subjects as the origin of the 

 Hawaiian avifauna, its peculiar environmental conditions, environmental 

 changes disastrous to Hawaiian birds, the diseases of Hawaiian birds, the 

 ornithological knowledge of the natives, the history of ornithological 

 investigations in the islands, faunal zones, etc. This is followed by 

 ' Part II. Descriptive,' which gives a very full biographical account of 

 each species, and a description of its external characters. Following this 

 is a table showing the geographical distribution of the native species by 

 islands, and an index. 



The number of species treated is 125, "including residents, migrants 

 and strays, together with a few that are extinct or practically so." Eleven 

 species have been introduced into one or more of the islands and have 

 become more or less firmly established. "There are 60 species of wood- 

 land Passeres that are endemic and are peculiar to the islands, these being 

 distinctively the Hawaiian Birds." 



Notwithstanding the fact that in recent years so much has been done 

 to make known scientifically the biids of the Hawaiian Islands, through 

 the great works of Mr. Scott B. Wilson and Mr. Walter Rothschild, and 

 the lesser writings of other investigators, we have here for the first 

 time an attempt to place within the reach of the ordinaiy bird lover a 

 descriptive list combined with a full account of what is known of their 

 life histories, based largely on the original observations of the author. 



"With the exception of a few species," saj-s Mr. Henshaw, "that are 

 evidently comparatively recent comers from America, like the Night 

 Heron, Gallinule, Marsh Hawk, and the Short-eared Owl, Hawaiian 

 birds are quite unlike an\' others. They fall naturally into a few groups 

 of related species, and so different are they from the birds of other lands 

 that their relationships are traceable only with great dilficulty." Accord- 



1 Birds of the Hawaiian Islands | being a | Complete List | of the | Birds of 

 the Hawaiian Possessions | with Notes on their Habits [ By | H. W. Henshaw 

 I — Price $1.00 I — I Honolulu, H. I. | Thos. G. Thrum, Publisher. | 1902- 

 8vo, pp. 146. 



