86 Recent Literature. \^^^ 



LJan. 



the birds are very demonsti-ative, even theatrical and melodramatic at 

 times. In some cases tliis is all riglit, in others it is all wrong. Birds 

 differ in this respect as much as people do — some are verj quiet and 

 sedate, others pose and gesticulate like a Frenchman. It would not be easy 

 to exaggerate, for instance, the flashings and evolutions of the redstart 

 when it arrives in May, or the acting and posing of the catbird, or the 

 gesticulations of the yellow-breasted chat, or the nervous and emphatic 

 character of the large-billed water thrush, or the many pretty attitudes of 

 the great Carolina wren; but to give the same dramatic character to the 

 demure little song sparrow, or to the slow moving cuckoo, or to the 

 pedestrian cowbird, or to the quiet Kentucky warbler, as Audubon has 

 done, is to convey a wrong impression of these birds." The coloring, as, 

 well as the posing, "is also often exaggerated." But in view of all that 

 Audubon accomplished, and often imder such adverse conditions, "it ill 

 becomes us," says Mr. Burroughs, "to indulge in captious criticism." 



In brief, Mr. Burroughs has well accomplished his task, and placed 

 within the reach of the many persons interested in the personal history 

 of the great pioneer painter-naturalist, in a handy and comparatively 

 inexpensi\e volume, a concise history of his life, character, and works. 

 The photogravure portrait serving as frontispiece is from the well-known 

 painting by Healy, made in 1838, now owned by the Boston Society of 

 Natural History. — J. A. A. 



Strong on the Development of Color in Feathers.— In a paper • of 40 

 pages, illustrated with 9 plates. Dr. Strong gives a detailed account of his 

 investigations of the development of color in feathers. The w-ork was 

 done in the Zoological Laboratory of Harvard University, under the 

 direction of Dr. E. L. Mark. It was begun in the fall of 1S99, and was 

 continued at intervals for many months, the material used being princi- 

 pally the remiges of the Common Tern (Sterna /iiru?ido), but feather 

 germs were also used from " Passerina ciris Linn., Passerina cyanea 

 Linn., Munia atricapilla Hume, and the common dove," and dry feathers 

 from Cyanocitta cristata., Siali'a sialt's, Pitta sordida., Pitta molucceusis, 

 Cotinga cayana, and Megascops asio. Dr. Strong was well qualified for 

 the task by his special training in the requisite technique of such investi- 

 gations, and enjoyed the exceptional advantages of a well equipped 

 laboratory, famous for its facilities for histological investigation. The 

 paper is necessarily highly technical, and the results and not the methods 

 will here receive notice. 



A brief introduction is followed by 'II. Methods and Materials ' ; ' III. 

 The Development of the Feather,' considered under 'A. The Feather 



1 The Development of Color in the Definitive Feather. By R. M. Strong. 

 Bulletin Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XL, No. 3, pp. 146-186, pll. i-ix, October, 

 1902. 



