April,, 1883.] 



AND OOLOCxIST. 



29 



themselves on record as endorsing this 

 book. They may have good reasons for 

 so doing ; if so, we think they owe it as a 

 duty to our ornithologists to give them. 

 Prof. Wm. D. Hornaday, Taxidermist U. 

 S. National Museum, is made to say : 



"Iliave carefully compared the figures in ' Studer'8 Birds 

 of North America 'with those in Audubon's great work, 

 and am free to say that they are more accurate in outline 

 as well as more faithfully colored to Nature. Numerous 

 examples in support of this could be given." 



Prof. Hornaday makes a statement that 

 is tangible ; something to tie to, and as we 

 have probably devoted more time to the 

 study of Audubon's life and works than 

 any person now living, we j^ropose to give 

 this Professor a chance to either maintain 

 his statement or retract. To do this we 

 will meet him in New York at a time to be 

 set to accommodate both. We will take a 

 copy of Aiidubon's original edition out of 

 some library, and take a copy of Studer's 

 Birds, original edition, also at random, and 

 the comparison shall be made by good 

 judges selected for the occasion, and we 

 Avill accept the result and publicly an- 

 nounce it through the O. and O. We will 

 state further that we will pay Prof. H. the 

 fvill su.bscription jirice for every copy of 

 Audubon's original edition he will send us, 

 and we challenge him to make us the same 

 offer for Studer's Birds. 



For the benefit of the above gentlemen 

 we will state that we have not known a 

 single person besides themselves that en- 

 dorse this work, and nearly every purchaser 

 that we have known, and we are in a posi- 

 tion to know many, were willing to sell at 

 about half price. We have known many 

 sets offered at less than half price. 



Since the above was written we received 

 a letter from a collector who writes : 



" Am sorry I ever bought that work of Jasper's as it is 

 not what I thought it was ; but I bought it and paid $40 for 

 it on recommendation." 



We have kept no letters referring to this 

 work, but we now ask our readers to give 

 us their opinions freely. One writer states 

 that he " was badly sold in buying the 

 work." Another writes : 



"■ Feb. 11 — I enclose a circular sent me 

 by Studer & Co. that you may compare C. 

 J. Maynard's puff with the just criticism 

 of ' C. H. M.' of Jasper's birds of N. A. in 

 Bull. JSfutt. Orn. Club : " 



"I am much pleased with Studer's Birds of North Amer- 

 ica. In the grouping of the birds, arrangement of light and 

 shade, in the perspective and delineations of the forms and 

 feathers, Dr. Jasper has certainly surpassed all other artists, 

 producing the best pictures of the species which I have 

 ever seen." — C. J. Maijnard. 



Contributions to the Anatomy of Birds, 

 by R. W. Shufeldt, M. D., U. S. A.— We 

 have before us the last work of Dr. Shuf- 

 eldt on North American Ornithology. It 

 is chiefly devoted to the anatomy of four 

 families of North American birds. Burrow- 

 ing Owl, Horned Lark, Grouse, and Vul- 

 ture, and fills about 220 pages of a Pub. 

 Doc, and is certainly less technical than 

 the Dr's. previous publications. 



While the study of anatomy is a neces- 

 sary and a useful branch in ornithology, it 

 is exceedingly di-y ; so dry that few scien- 

 tists will devote the time to study pub- 

 lished works, let alone write them. The 

 Dr. has evidently learned that his previ- 

 ously dry technical style was too much for 

 the general reader, and this volume is a 

 decided improvement in that the matter is 

 more of a general ornithological nature, 

 and the work contains about twenty illus- 

 trations, mostly new to us, of birds in full 

 plumage, besides many full pages of Ana- 

 tomical plates. We hope the Doctor will 

 continue his good work as his duties will 

 permit, our readers fully appreciating the 

 great work he is doing for them. 



Rare Books. For five years we have 

 earnestly and anxiously hunted for a copy 

 of Geo. Ord's life of Alex. Wilson. At 

 last we have found it. A thin 8 vo., price 

 $4.00. We have advertised scarce por- 

 traits of Wm. Bar tram, really the first 

 American ornithologist, and instructor of 

 Alex. Wilson ; two only have been sold and 

 those to a London dealer. We have ad- 

 vertised the American Partridges by Gould, 

 mostly life size, .containing every partridge 

 on this continent known at that time, 



