Vol. XIV) 
1897 Recent Literature. T O7 
with which Mr. Thompson illustrates his theme and proves his thesis ; and 
it is equally true that no artist could have drawn them without a knowledge 
of the anatomical details upon which they are based. Mr. Thompson’s 
plea is for scientific exactness as well as for artistic excellence. He 
rightly claims that no result can be correct which is fundamentally wrong, 
and he presents his fellow artists with a series of original studies of the 
visible form of mammals and birds as it is governed by bones and 
muscles, tendons, veins and nerves, hair, feathers, which they will do 
well to consider. 
We are here concerned only with that part of the work relating to 
birds. Plates are given illustrating the pterylosis of a typical pas- 
serine bird (Passer domesticus), a Kestrel (Falco alaudarius), and a 
Quail (Coturnix communis). Special attention is paid to the intricate 
arrangement of the feathers of the wing, and to the effect produced by the 
feathers of certain pteryle when in proper position. This is further 
shown bya remarkable drawing of the Peacock’s spread train, which, 
when in good condition, is found to present a perfect half circle, the ocelli 
being bisected by the radii and equidistant concentric circles. 
Mr. Thompson has rendered a service to science and to art for which all 
lovers of truth and beauty cannot be too grateful. F. M. C. 
Miss Merriam’s ‘A-Birding on a Bronco ’.!—‘ A-Birding on a Bronco’ 
consists of a series of nineteen chapters or studies, mostly here printed 
for the first time, illustrated with numerous ‘ half-tones ’ from photographs 
of some of the scenes described and by spirited drawings of birds and 
birds’ nests by Mr. Fuertes. The scene of Miss Merriam’s studies is the 
vicinity of Twin Oaks, in southern California, “‘ thirty-four miles north of 
San Diego, and twelve miles from the Pacific,’ where parts of two 
summers were spent a-field with the birds. About sixty species are referred 
to at greater or less length, while a score or more are made the subject of 
special study. Some twenty pages are devoted to ‘The Little Lover,’ in 
other words, the Western House Wren, and as many more to the Western 
Gnatcatcher. The chief characters of another chapter are some young 
California Woodpeckers, while Bush-tits, Orioles, Chewinks, Humming- 
birds, the Valley Quail, the Road-runner, and others come in for a liberal 
share of attention. Miss Merriam is a sympathetic as well as a keen 
observer of birds in their native haunts, and relates in minute detail the 
vicissitudes of bird-life as seen in her numerous excursions to their favorite 
haunts. As may be inferred from the title of the book, two trusty broncos 
—one during the season of 1889 and the other in 1894 — afforded her not 
only means of easy travel during her daily excursions but also pleasant 
1 A-Birding on a Bronco | By Miss Florence A. Merriam |... . [= Motto, 
3 lines] | Illustrated | [Vignette] | Boston and New York | Houghton, Mifflin 
and Company | The Riverside Press, Cambridge | 1896.—16mo, pp. x + 227. 
(Price $1.25.) 
