380 



Recent Literature. 



of Stejiieger's scheme (1SS5), of Fiirbritiger's (1888), of Seebolnn's 

 (1890), Shufeldt's Classification of the Passeres (1SS9), Heine anil 

 Reichenow's (1S82-90), and various other special works and papers bear- 

 ing on the subject. The various schemes are discussed and compared at 

 some length /a,";.'/;/;, and presented in tabular form for readj comparison. 

 Fiirbringer's diagrams are reproduced, and similar ones presented of 

 other systems to further facilitate comparison. In respect to American 

 workers, Mr. Sharpe makes pleasing references to the labors of Coues, 

 Shufeldt, Lucas, and Jeffries, and especially to Stejneger, of whose work 

 he says : "... and I must emphatically state my conviction that, with 

 the exception of some of Professor Elliott Coues's essays, there never 

 has been a popular work on birds so well conceived as the 'Aves' volume 

 of the 'Standard Natural History,' or one which, professedly popular in 

 its aims, contains such an amount of sterling new and original work." 



Dr. Sharpe prefaces his own scheme with some well-considered remarks 

 on the slow process of building up a natural classification of birds, which 

 he compares to the construction of a builtiing to which each laborei- in 

 the field contributes his quota. "Sometimes the structure has to be 

 altered and amended but it is seldom that a labourer, whose soul is in his 

 work, retires witnout having added something in the shape of useful 

 materials. It takes a long time — it maybe years of study — before a 

 sound brick is baked. ... It is certain, however, that by this 'brick'- 

 making materials for the structure of the Classification of Birds will be 

 slowly gathered." He has also a word for the critic, who pulls down hut 

 never builds up. This is followed by some practical and very sensible 

 remarks upon the exhibition of bird material in museums, and on the 

 general subject of the study of birds. Me says : "If the system of teach- 

 ing by artistic groups be adopted, then only the principal forms would 

 require illustration, and a representation of the leading type of each order 

 or sub-order would suffice. A supplementary gallery might be provided, 

 in which types of each family, subfamily, and genus of birds would be ex- 

 hibited, but lower than genera I wouki never descend in a public exhibi- 

 tion. The student of species should find his material in the 'study" 

 series, .... and there each species should be amply illustrated by 

 actual specimens showing the plumage of both sexes at all times of the 

 year, young birds in all stages, moulting individuals, and a full scries ex- 

 hibiting geographical distribution and variation in the species, even if it 

 requires a series of specimens. The days have gone by when the de- 

 scription of a new species was the be-all and end-all of an ornithologist's 

 hopes. The warfare over priority of nomenclature is fast showing signs 

 of waning. ... It is time, however, that by some such means as an 

 International Congress of Ornithologists the names of the species of 

 birds were settled once and for all, in order that we may turn our atten- 

 tion to the far more important facts of geographical distribution and life 

 history of species. We are aiiproaching a time when the study of rain- 

 fall and climate, of altitude and locality, and even the conditions of 

 weather under which a specimen was procured, will be considered indis- 



