98 



Notes and News. f^"^ 



the ' Key,' being of a broad scope, which make plain the comparative 

 relationships of North American families, genera, and species of birds^ 

 with extralimital forms (Old World and neotropical). This broad treat- 

 ment makes of the 'Key' more than the merely faunal work which its 

 title would imply — i.e., while it is still emphatically a 'Key to North 

 American Birds,' it contains, more than ever in the past, much general 

 information in regard to birds. 



"(7) An invaluable feature of preceding editions — the scholarly ex- 

 planation of the etymology of scientific names — is retained, and will 

 continue to make the ' Key' unique among works of its class. 



"Throughout the 'Key' — in all departments, life histories, de- 

 scriptions, etc. — Dr. Coues's famous descriptive powers are fully dis- 

 played as in the past." 



' London Birds and other Sketches,' by J. Uigby Pigott, is announced 

 by Edward Arnold (37 Bedford St., London), a large crown octavo, with 

 photogravure illustrations. It includes, besides several chapters on Lon- 

 don birds and London insects, sketches of the ' Birds of the Outer Fames,' 

 'The Shetlands in the Birds'-nesting Season/ ' Haunts of the Shearwater,' 

 ' In Dutch Water Meadows,' etc. 



' Bird-Lore 's ' plans for 1903 include an article on the first (1872) edition 

 of Coues's 'Key' by its financial sponsor Prof. F. W. Putnam which will 

 doubtless contain some interesting historical details, and, in view of the 

 proposed publication this spring of the revised, two-volume edition of the 

 'Key' will be especially interesting. The article will be accompanied by 

 photographically reproduced pages of proof of the systematic portion of 

 the 'Key,' with corrections and characteristic annotations by Dr. Coues. 

 'Bird-Lore' also proposes to publish the photographs of the fifty odd 

 prominent ornithologists forming its Advisory Council and this series^ 

 in connection with the group photographs of the Founders of the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union, members of the Nuttall Club, and of the 

 Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, will indeed make this magazine an 

 album of American Ornithologists. The February number will contain 

 an article by Mr. A. J. Campbell of Melbourne, author of 'Nests and Eggs 

 of Australian Birds,' on the Mound-building birds of Australia, with, we 

 believe, the first photographs of the singular structures erected by these 

 birds to be published in this country. 



Among the minor Ornithological Clubs, good work has been done at 

 London, Ont., by the 'Ornithological Section of the Entomological 

 Section of Ontario.' At the recent annual meeting of the Entomological 

 Society held in that city the name of the 'Ornithological Section' was 

 changed to 'The Mcllwraith Ornithological Club.' This was done at 

 the request of the members of the Club, who wished to acknowledge the 



