I02 Recent Literature. [January 



revised edition ; upon the preparation of this Dr. Warren has been en- 

 gaged during the past two years, and the present volume is the result. 



The primary purpose of the Report is not to lay before the scientific 

 public the outcome of the author's investigations, though a great deal 

 of important original matter is actually given ; its object is simply to in- 

 struct the people of Pennsylvania in regard to the birds of their State, 

 and especially to give the farmers all available information as to the bear- 

 ing upon their own interests of the food habits of the various species. In 

 a way the book seems intended to fill a place today in Pennsylvania very 

 similar to that so long occupied in Massachusetts by Samuels' ' Birds of 

 New England'; and it is amply qualified to do so. 



The book begins with a brief introduction which includes a geographi- 

 cal description of the State of Pennsylvania and a list of the anatomical 

 terms used in the descriptions of species, the latter illustrated b^' a plate 

 to make the subject clear to the inexperienced. After this comes the 

 body of the work, occupying 331 pages, in wliicii 29S species are treated. 

 Each family or subfamily is introduced by a concise and well-planned 

 account of its habits, nesting, and distribution, and its distinctive physi- 

 cal characters. Under each species is given a description, expressed in 

 unusually simple language, brief, yet generally sufficient to identify the 



bird. " The greater portion of the descriptions are original, 



having been taken principally from specimens in the author's collec- 

 tion," but in some cases lack of material has made it necessary to quote 

 from Baird, Coues, or Ridgwaj'. Following the description comes a 

 statement of habitat, copied, occasionally with slight changes, from the 

 A. O. U. Check-List. The rest of the text treats of the times of occur- 

 rence, the abundance, and local distribution, of the bird in Pennsylvania, 

 and, often in considerable detail, of its habits, nesting, and food. These 

 accounts are based upon " field observations made by the writer, during 

 the past ten or twelve years, in the State of Pennsylvania." When these 

 prove insufficient the gaps are filled by extracts from the writings of 

 Audubon, Nuttall, Coues, and various others. In the case of many of the 

 less common species the author has incorporated the previously unpub- 

 lished notes of a number of observers in different parts of Pennsylvania. 

 In some cases their reports are given in tabulated foi-m, showing very 

 satisfactorily the evidence as to abundance and seasons of occurrence 

 throughout the State. 



While these accounts are on the whole eminently satisfactory, and 

 adapted with great discretion to the purpose of the Report, theie is one 

 fault which cannot be overlooked, — at least by the scientific ornithologist. 

 Occasionally rarities are recorded with but the barest mention of the cir- 

 cumstances; giving rise unavoidably to painful doubts in the reader's 

 mind as to the correctness of the record. A case in point is Z?e«^roi'c« 

 kirtlandi, which is given as breeding, on the strength of the statement 

 by a correspomlent that he " saw one and its family." Apparently none 

 of the '■ family'' were secured, and the author seems content to remain 

 in ignorance as to whether or not even the parent bird was taken. For- 



