VOl i9OT IV ] Recent Literature. 229 



Taken all in all, 'The Warblers of North America' reaches a high stan- 

 dard of excellence, and sets a model future writers may well emulate. 

 The many excellent colored figures of the birds and beautiful half-tones 

 of nests and eggs admirably supplement the carefully prepared text. — 

 J. A. A. 



Alpheraky's 'The Geese of Europe and Asia.' — In the present 

 work 1 are described and figured all of the known species and subspecies of 

 Palsearctic Geese, twenty-two in number. The work was originally pub- 

 lished in Russian, in 1904, under the title 'Gusi Rossii,' and it is now most 

 welcome in its English dress. The author has evidently enjoyed great 

 opportunities, both in the field and in the amount of material open to him 

 for investigation, as a preparation for the present work, with which he 

 expresses dissatisfaction, inasmuch as he has failed to realize his ideal in 

 respect to its completeness and finality. Yet it is a most important 

 contribution to our knowledge of an imperfectly known field in ornithology. 



The generalities of the subject, given in the introduction, are followed 

 by an elaborate key to the genera, species and subspecies, and this by the 

 systematic descriptions, two appendices, and the index. The descriptions 

 of the species, including the various plumages, are very detailed, the bibli- 

 ographical references are very full, especially to Russian authors, and the 

 geographical distribution and biographies appear to be worked out with 

 great care and thoroughness. The work thus abounds with exceedingly 

 valuable information, not elsewhere given in such connected and con- 

 venient form. The author believes Buturlin's subgenus Melanonyx to 

 be worthy of generic recognition, and adopts it for the Bean Goose group; 

 he is also liberal in his recognition of species and subspecies, and thus is 

 very attentive to technical details, which adds value to his work, whether 

 or not all his conclusions are accepted. His recognition of differences 

 resulting from age and individual differentiation tend to give confidence 

 in his estimate of the value of differences he ascribes to other causes. 



Appendix I is a valuable paper by Mr. G. F. Gobel on the Eggs of Russian 

 Geese, which Mr. Alpheraky says "affords the only satisfactory basis for 

 further oological investigations in the subfamily Auserinae," and deals 

 with the structure of the shell as well as with the color and size of the egg. 

 Tables of the weight (of the shell), the breadth and length of the eggs of 

 the Anserinse are given as an important aid in determining the species. 



1 The Geese of Europe | and Asia | being a Description of most of the | Old World 

 Species | By | Sergius Alpheraky | Corresponding Member of the Zoological Section 

 of the Imperial Academy of Science, St. Petersburg; | Hon. Member of the Russian 

 Entomological Society; Member of the Imperial | Russian Geographical Society, 

 etc., etc. | With twenty-four coloured plates by F. W. Frohawk | F. E. S., M. B. O. 

 U. | and | frontispiece by Dr. P. P. Sushkin | London: Rowland Ward, Ltd. | "The 

 Jungle," Piccadilly |MCM. V — 4to, pp. i-ix, 1-198, col. frontispiece, 24 col. pll., 

 and 16 text figures. 



