282 Recent Literature. [July 



Coues's Key to North American Birds, Second Edition.* — The twelve 

 years which have passed since the publication of the first edition of the 

 'Key' have been marked by unprecedented activity and progress in North 

 American ornithology — sufficient, indeed, to render antiquated any text- 

 book on our birds, however well up to date in the year 1872. In prepar- 

 ing the second edition of the 'Key,' the author has not only attempted to 

 bring the work abreast of the present phase of the subject, but has taken 

 the opportunity' to remedy the defects of the first, and to greatly enlarge 

 the scope of the work by the addition of much new material, covering 

 branches of the subject wholly omitted in the old 'Key.' While in bulk 

 the book seems scarcely larger than the one that has so long been a 

 familiar and useful companion alike to the amateur and the professional 

 ornithologist, it contains more than twice as many pages, and probably 

 four times more matter, in consequence of the use of smaller type and 

 thinner paper. Nearly 350 new illustrations have been added, a few of 

 them replacing old ones now discarded. About fifty — drawn by Mr. 

 Edwin Sheppard and engraved by Mr. H. H. Nichols — have been prepared 

 expi-essly for the present edition, besides some thirty or more original 

 anatomical drawings, made by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A., and many 

 cuts borrowed from various duly accredited sources. 



The work, as it now stands, is divided into four 'Parts,' as follows : 

 'Part I. Field Ornithology.' This is a reprint, with slight modifications 

 and the addition of a few illustrations, of the author's well-known woi-k of 

 this title originally published in 1874. 'Part II. General Ornithology.' 

 This is the inti-oductory matter of the old 'Key' greatly amplified and 

 with many new illustrations, but especially through the addition of 

 nearly 100 pages of entirely new matter on the anatomy of birds. 'Part 

 III. Systematic Synopsis of North American Birds.' This is the 'Syste- 

 matic Synopsis' of the old 'Key' greatly augmented through much fuller 

 treatment of the subject, the diagnoses of the various forms treated being 

 much extended, and to which is added a concise epitome of the biography 

 of each. 'Part IV. Systematic Synopsis of the Fossil Birds of North 

 America.' This is the 'Appendix,' of the old 'Key' brought down to date. 

 As before, it has been revised by Professor O. C. Marsh. The number of 

 species and varieties of living birds now admitted is about 900; of fossil 

 species, 46. 



Part II, the author characterizes as "a sort of 'Closet Ornithology' as 

 distinguished from a 'Field Ornithology' ; being a treatise on the classifica- 

 tion and structure of birds, explaining and defining the technical terms 

 used in ornithology, — in short, teaching the principles of the science and 



* Key to North American Birds. Containing a concise account of every species of 

 living and fossil bird at present known from the Continent north of the Mexican and 

 United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland. Second Edition, revised to date, and 

 entirely rewritten : with which are incorporated General Ornithology : an outline of the 

 structure and classification of birds, and Field Ornithology : a Manual of collecting, 

 preparing, and preserving birds. By Elliott Coues, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., Member 

 of the National Academy of Sciences, etc., etc. Profusely illustrated. Boston : 

 Estes & Lauriat, 1884. Royal Bvo. pp. xxx -f- 863, i col. pi., and 56 3 woodcuts. 



