1S90.] Recent Literature. IQS 



In conclusion we would say that by far the most unsatisfactory feature of 

 the work is its slow progress. The first volume covers only about one third 

 of the entire field, yet seven and a half years are comprised between the 

 dates of publication of the first and last signatures. At this rate, we mav 

 look for the completion of the work not sooner than the close of the pres- 

 ent century! It is to be hoped, however, that the authors may manage to 

 hasten its completion, for, until the remaining families shall have been 

 treated, any work done by others in the same field will be, necessarilv, 

 premature. — Robert Ridgway. 



Saunders's Manual of British Birds.* — The purpose of the present 

 volume is "to convey as much information up to date as may be practi- 

 cable in one volume." The plan of the work, as the author says, "may 

 justly be called Procrustean," just two pages being allowed to each 

 species, the matter consisting of a full-length figure and a page and three 

 quarters of text. Very few of the wood-cuts are new, nearly all being from 

 "the blocks from which the illustrations were struck for the foureditions of 

 Yarrell's 'British Birds', " to which, however, have been added figures of 

 many of the recent wanderers to Great Britain, and a few fresh figures 

 of other species, including the Great Auk. In this small space the author 

 has compressed a fair statement of the habitat and migrations of each 

 species treated, of course, with special reference to its status as a British 

 bird; a summary of its life-history, and a description of its external 

 characters, including seasonal, sexual and other phases of plumage. 



There is neither synonymy nor any bibliographical references, and 

 the generic diagnoses are given in the 'Introduction', under their respec- 

 tive orders and families, arranged mainly in accordance with the B. O. U. 

 'List of British Birds.' The work is thus in a true sense a 'Manual',— an 

 epitome of what is most interesting and most useful to the general reader. 

 The addition of analytical keys and tables would perhaps have made the 

 book more useful to the young student without greatly increasing the 

 cost or size of the 'Manual'. 



The number of species considered as unquestionably entitled to be 

 reckoned as British is 367; a few others are incidentally mentioned, re- 

 specting the status of which there are conflicting opinions. "The species 

 which have been ascertained to breed within the United Kingdom during 

 the present century may be taken as 200; about 70 non-breeding wanderers 

 have occurred fewer than six times, and 59 others are more or less infre- 

 quent visitors ; while 38 species annually make their appearance on migra- 

 tion or during the colder months, in some portion of our long, narrow 

 group of islands or the surrounding waters" (p. v). 



* An Illustrated Manual | of | British Birds. | By | Howard Saunders, F. L. S., F. 

 /. S., &c. I Editor of the Third and fourth Volumes of "Yarrell's History of | British 

 Birds," Fourth Edition. | With Illustrations of nearly every Species. | [Monogram.] 

 London : Gurney and Jackson.i, Paternoster Row. | (Successors to Mr. Van Voorst.) | 

 1889.— 8vo, pp. xl -|- 754, with 3 maps, and "367 illustrations." 



