VOl i909" VI ] Recent Literature. 329 



While the work has been prepared and largely written by Mr. Dawson, 

 he explains at length the authorship relation with Mr. Bowles, who had 

 already in hand a work on the birds of Washington before Mr. Dawson 

 appeared upon the scene, he crediting Mr. Bowles "with unbounded 

 generosity" in placing the results of his labors at his disposal and in con- 

 tinuing his aid in the gathering of material for the work. Except in the 

 case of articles signed with Mr. Bowles's name, "and in most of the unsigned 

 articles on Grouse and Ducks, where our work has been a strict collabora- 

 tion," says Mr. Dawson, "the actual writing of the book has fallen to my 

 lot." The 'Analytical Keys,' at the end of Volume II (pp. 939-960), are 

 accredited to Prof. Lynds Jones. 



The nomenclature is that of the A. O. U. Check-List as revised down to 

 and including the Fourteenth Supplement, but the arrangement is that of 

 the Check-List reversed, with some further modifications, as explained in 

 the preface. Volume I thus begins with the Oscines, with the Corvidae as 

 the leading family. As indicated on the title-page, the number of forms 

 admitted as birds of Washington is 372. A 'British Columbia Supplement' 

 (pp. 963-984), with annotations by Allan Brooks, gives (A) a list of the 

 species included in 'The Birds of Washington' that have not as yet been 

 reported from British Columbia; (B) "descriptions of species known to 

 occur in British Columbia but presumed not to occur in Washington" 

 (14 species), or (C) "whose occurrence in Washington is presumptive" 

 (25 species); and (D) "Washington Hypothetical List," or "species not 

 known to occur in British Columbia but likely to occur or have occurred in 

 Washington" (22 species). 



A 'publisher's note,' near the close of the work states that the 'Bibliog- 

 raphies' referred to in the preface as to be found in the 'Appendices' are 

 omitted on account of 'The Birds of Washington' having already consider- 

 ably exceeded the limits originally assigned to it. In fact, our chief criti- 

 cism is in respect to the size and ponderosity of the work, which must inter- 

 fere with its convenient use as a manual; but a work with such a profusion 

 of illustrations, requiring the use of heavy paper, and making a thousand 

 pages, could hardly be otherwise than ponderous, especially the large 

 paper de luxe edition, like the sample now before us. It is, however, un- 

 deniably a handsome work, creditable alike to the author and his various 

 collaborators, to the publishers, and to the State whose birds are here so 

 effectively depicted. — J. A. A. 



Shufeldt's 'Osteology of Birds.' — Although this work is entitled 'Os- 

 teology of Birds,' 1 it is restricted to the ' Accipitres,' 'Gallinse,' 'Anseres,' 

 and the Cuckoos; and of these the forms treated in detail are mainly North 

 American. It is divided into four sections, as follows : (1) ' Osteology of the 

 Accipitres,' pp. 1-168, text figures 1-65, plates 1-16; (2) 'Osteology of the 

 GallinaV pp. 169-248, text figures 1-36, plates 1-8; (3) 'Osteology and 



1 Osteology of Birds. By R. W. Shufeldt, M. D. New York State Museum, Mu- 

 seum Bulletin 130. May 15, 1909. 8vo, pp. 1-381, with 145 text figures, and 26 

 half-tone plates. 



