iSpi-l Rccrvt T^iterature. 2 2Q 



' sas' might in many ways serve as a model to future writers of similar 

 works. As its title indicates, the work is strictly limited to the birds 

 known to occui- within the State of Kansas, which now number 343 species 

 and subspecies. The technical descriptions are borrowed, "chiefly' from 

 'North American Land and Water Birds,' by Baird, Brewer, ami Ridg- 

 way," for which due credit is given. No synonymy or bibliographical 

 references are included, further than is implied in the concordance, in 

 which, in addition to that given in the A. O. U. Check-List is included a 

 reference to the author's own 'Revised Catalogue' of Kansas birds, pub- 

 lished in 1886, and to the A. O. U. Check-List itself. Nothing further is 

 really necessary in a work of this character, the A. O. U. Nomenclature 

 being strictly followed. 



The character of the text is hence as follows: The characters of the 

 higher groups are given in full, from the source already indicated. The 

 text under each species consists of the A. O. U. Check-List names (both 

 English and Latin), followed (i) by a reference to the plate where the 

 species is figured ; (2) a suininary statement of the nature of its occur- 

 rence in Kansas; (3) its concordance; (4) its habitat; (5) technical 

 description; (6) life histoi-y, based mainlv on the author's own personal 

 experience. 



Colonel Goss has been a great wanderer in pursuit of ornithological 

 knowledge, and it is a pleasure to find his pages on Kansas birds en- 

 riched by i-eferences to his experience with many of the species mentioned 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the maritime Provinces of Canada, in 

 Florida, Wisconsin, and Texas, on the Northwest Coast, and in various 

 parts of Mexico and Central America. His bird biographies tluis abound 

 with fresh material, given in a most unassuming and very pleasant wa\-. 

 The descriptions of the nesting habits and the eggs are generally verv 

 full. His ovvn experience, hovvever, is supplemented in many instances 

 by extended quotations from other authors. In general it may be said 

 that the work adds greatly to our knowledge of many species of North 

 American birds, and is in every way a credit to its conscientious and 

 painstaking author. 



Typographically the work is very attractive, while the plates are a novel 

 feature, and, as an inexpensive method of illustration, ma>' be regarded 

 as a success, quite excelling in effectiveness any pre\ ious attempt at 

 photo-engraving in ornithology we have seen. In fact, the plates are 

 little less than a revelation respecting the possibilities of photogravure 

 as an aid in ornithological illustration. The figures are all from mounted 

 specimens in the 'Goss Ornithological Collection,' in the State Cabinet 

 at Topeka and the work of Col. Goss himself. They are arranged in 

 plates containing from five or six to twenty or more figures, grouped so 

 as to be photographed all at one time, and thus all presented on practi- 

 cally the same scale. While the perches necessarily give a stifi' and 

 rather inartistic effect, the markings of the plumage and the general 

 character of the birds come out with wonderful clearness and effective- 

 ness, even in figures less than an inch in length. There are here and 



