244 Recent Literature. ree 
Newton’s insistence upon the importance of taking a bird’s whole struc- 
ture in consideration in the attempt to fix its position in a natural genetic 
classification. Such insistence is well exemplified in the care Professor 
Newton takes to place in their proper light Professor Fiirbringer’s recent 
remarkable contributions to systematic ornithology (pp. zoo-zo3), together 
with those of Dr. Gadow — neither of whom is so well known, in this 
country, as each deserves to be. 
The remainder of the Introduction is devoted to what may be deemed 
the present outlook for the taxonomy of the future. Those who did not 
know Professor Newton’s extreme caution and conservatism might per- 
haps expect to find him propounding a system of his own; but such will 
look in vain. We have carefully guarded statements on many points 
which seem to have been established ; but beyond these Professor Newton 
is unprepared to go. Audacity and even temerity have their uses, on 
some occasions, but the construction of an Avian phylum is not among 
the opportunities for a profitable display of such qualities — tempting and 
alluring though the prospect may seem to some ardent minds. The 
geological record remains to this day altogether too incomplete. No one 
has yet flown to the Jura except on the wings of the imagination ; and until 
a safer mode of progression in that direction be opened, with a plentiful 
supply of the still missing links for stepping-stones, the natural classifi- 
cation of birds will remain a vision of Utopia. 
We should not close this tribute to the great work of a great ornitholo- 
gist without recognition of those by whom he has been so ably aided in 
its execution —in ornithotomy by Dr. Gadow, whose contributions are 
conspicuous throughout the volume; in paleornithology by Mr. Lydekker ; 
in other lines by Professor Roy; certain other contributions we do not see 
fit to name being fortunately too few and too insignificant to appreciably 
detract from the standard of excellence elsewhere maintained throughout 
the ‘ Dictionary.’— E. C. 
Bates’s ‘ The Game Birds of North America.’ '— Mr. Bates’s definition 
of a game bird is the following: ““A game bird is one which is suitable 
for food and which is habitually pursued for sport, demanding skill and 
dexterity for its capture. I take it for granted that every sportsman is a 
gentleman, and would not slaughter more game than he could find a use 
for, and that he would not descend to the level of the pot-hunter, who will 
kill Robins and other insectivorous birds simply because they are fit to 
eat.” The book is intended as “a convenient reference list adapted to the 
sportsman’s needs without compelling him to wander among a mass of 
useless matter.” Judged by this standard the author has apparently pre- 
pared a handy book for the intelligent sportsman, whereby he may in most 
99 
‘The Game Birds | of North America | A Descriptive Check-List | By | 
Frank A. Bates | President “ Boston Scientific Society,” and formerly | 
Associate Editor “ Ornithologist and Oologist.” | Illustrated | Boston | Bradlee 
Whidden | 1896—16mo, pp. 118. 
