Sa. Recent Literature. ^^^ 



Keyser"s ' Birds of the Rockies.' ' — This is a narrative of the author's 

 experiences in a rather limited portion of Colorado, supplemented by an 

 annotated list of the birds thus far recorded from the State, based, with due 

 acknowledgment, on Prof. W. W. Cooke's ' The Birds of Colorado.' The 

 author's field of observation included the immediate vicinity of Pike's Peak, 

 and other points in the Rockies to the northward and southward, and also 

 excursions to the foothills and adjoining edge of the Plains to the east- 

 ward. He evidently enjoyed his experiences with all the enthusiasm of 

 an ardent bird lover, and recounts them at length in ecstatic phrases for 

 the entertainment of those of similar ilk vi^ho may not have enjoyed his 

 opportunities. He is often prolix and repetitive in telling of his feelings 

 under these inspiring surroundings as well as in recording what he saw 

 and learned in the way of new bird acquaintances, but he is evidently so 

 sincere and so much in earnest that much can be pardoned. While the 

 work is not given forth as a record of new discoveries, it cannot fail to be 

 entertaining and enjoyable to the class to which it most obviously appeals 

 — the amateur bird lover. The book is beautifully printed and illustrated, 

 Mr. Horsfall's vignettes and marginal illustrations being very appro- 

 priate and pleasing. Besides, Mr. Keyser is an intelligent observer, and 

 has a good general knowledge of his subject. In his opening chapter, 

 'Up and Down the Heights,' he has something to say of the vertical 

 migration of birds in the Rockies, and of the faunal differences between 

 this region and the States to the eastward of the Great Plains, — of the 

 eastern forms one misses, of the western types that take their places, and 

 of the representative, slightly differentiated forms that replace familiar 

 eastern species. In the second chapter, ' Introduction to Some Species,' 

 certain eastern and western forms are compared, and in a pleasant way 

 much information is conveyed that cannot fail to interest and instruct 

 the average lay reader. The other eleven chapters, under the titles, 

 ' Bald Peaks and Green Vales,' ' Birds of the Arid Plain,' ' Over the 

 Divide and Back,' ' A. Pretty Hummer,' ' A Notable Q^iartette,' etc., deal 

 with some particular locality or excursion, or with some particular species 

 or group of species, so that in the course of the volume most of the com- 

 mon birds of the region come in for a share of the author's attention. 

 The colored plates, by Mr. Fuertes, of some of the more characteristic 

 and striking species, contribute greatly to the general attractiveness of a 

 book that is well worthy of extended sale, and which occupies a hitherto 

 somewhat neglected field in the list of popular bird books. — J. A. A. 



' Birds of the Rockies | By Leander Keyser | Author of " In Bird Land," 

 etc. I — I With Eight full-page Plates (four in color) | by Louis Agassiz 

 Fuertes ; Many Illustra- | tions in the Text by Bruce Horsfall, and | Eight 

 Yiews of Localities from photographs | — | With a complete Check- | List of 

 Colorado Birds | [monogram] — | Chicago. A. C. McClurg and Co. | Nineteen 

 Hundred and Two. — 8vo, pp. i-xviii,-j-i9-355, pll. 8 (4 in color), 8 full- 

 page half-tones, and 30 half-tone marginal text cuts. 



