594 Recent Literature. [^ 



The ornithologist will find many of those sketches replete with observa- 

 tions on bird habits ami behavior. 



The Sight of gulls, the courtship of wild ducks, the booming of the bit torn 

 and the plumage changes of the sandpipers are all discussed. Besides, 

 the Ipswich Sparrow, Pipit, Short- Lark and a few other land birds which one 

 naturally expects to find along the shore, a surprising list of warblers — 

 twenty-one species —has been observed among the dune trees in migra- 

 tion times. 



In the make-up of Dr. Townsend's book the publishers have done their 

 part well and the typography and binding are as attractive as is the text. — 

 YV. S. 



Bailey's ■ The Birds of Virginia.' ' — The wealth of excellent illustra- 

 tions and the admirable typography unite in making Mr. Bailey's book one 

 of tlu- most attractive state lists that has yet appeared. The halftones 

 are from photographs by the author and by many of his correspondents 

 in different parts of the country, especially Messrs. C. F. Stone, O. E. Bay- 

 nard, Thomas 11. Jackson, W. Otto Emerson and Verdi Burtch, while the 

 color plates are from paintings by Mr. E. L. Poole of the Delaware Valley 

 Ornithological Club, a young artist who gives much promise as a portrayer 

 of animal and bird life. 



The text consists of a statement of the range of each species reprinted 

 from the A. O. U. Check-List with occasional alterations by the author and 

 about a page descriptive of nest and eggs, local distribution, abundance 

 and economic status; acknowledgment being made to the V. S. Department 



Of Agriculture for data on the food of a number of species. 



The matter thus presented combined with the extremely attractive 

 make-up of the book will go far to realizing one of the objects of the publi- 

 cation, as set forth in the preface — namely to stimulate interest in our 

 native birds and their welfare. Such a stimulus has long been needed in 

 Virginia and other southern states and for this purpose especially Mr. 

 Bailey's book should be welcomed. It is to be regretted however, that 

 the text could not have been given the benefit for a careful editorial 

 revision, for while remarkably free from typographical errors it is care- 

 lessly and loosely thrown together evidently under pressure of time with 

 the result of being sometimes distinctly ungrainmatical. 



With regard to the author's second aim, to provide a " thorough systema- 

 tic work on tin" breeding birds of the state for the needs of the advanced 

 ornithologists of our country," his volume is adequate so far as containing 

 probably all the species and subspecies which breed in Virginia but it is 

 frequently lacking in the detailed data that characterize modern ornithologi- 



i The Hints of Virginia | By ! Harold E. Bailey ! with fourteen full page colored 

 plates one map, and <me hundred and eight | half-tones taken from nature | 

 treating one hundred and eighty-five species and subspecies: | all the birds that 

 breed within the slate | 1913 | J. P. Bell Company, Inc. | Publisher I Lynchburg, 

 \ a. Bvo. pp. i xxiii. and 1 -362 



