66 Recent Literature. \!}^- 



he was the author of some six others,' all containing original observations 

 on the habits of our birds. — F. M. C. 



'Bird Neighbors."- — This is an interesting addition to the rapidly 

 growing list of bird books, designed to popularize ornithology, by an 

 author whose name was previously unknown to naturalists. It is evi- 

 dent, however, that she understands the needs of the audience to whom 

 her book is addressed, and the key-note of the book is to simplify the 

 problem of identification. This is done by grouping the species treated 

 according to their haunts, characteristic habits, season, and finallj- color. 

 About a page is devoted to the life-history of each species, and here the 

 author shows that not only has she a practical grasp of her subject but 

 also fully appreciates its aesthetic and poetic sides. 



Fifty-one of the species are represented in color by plates which have 

 appeared in the Chicago magazine 'Birds.' They are of special interest 

 as showing the most recent development of the three-color printing 

 process. It is evident, however, that poor taxidermy and lack of taste in 

 composition have combined to furnish originals whose faults the process 

 has reproduced with painful accuracy. — F. M. C. 



The Nev(^ Birdcraft.^ — It is not often a reviewer's pleasure to have a 

 publisher accept his advice in so literal and liberal a sense that its sound- 

 ness is more than vindicated. We would not claim undue credit for the 

 appearance of this beautiful book in its present form, but so fully does it 

 now meet our ideas of what it should have been that we cannot forbear 

 quoting from our review of the iirst edition'* with its inharmonious 



1 ' Eye Spy ' ; ' Sharp Eyes ' ; ' Strolls by Starlight and Sunshine ' ; ' Happy 

 Hunting Grounds'; Highways and Byways'; 'Pastoral Days' — all pub- 

 lished by Harper & Brothers. 



- Bird Neighbors. An | Introductory Acquaintance | with one hundred 

 and fifty | Birds Commonly Found in on the gardens, meadows, and | woods 

 about Our Homes. | By | Neltje Blanchan | with Introduction By John Bur- 

 roughs I and Fifty Colored Plates | New York | Doubleday & McClure Co. | 

 1897. — 8vo., pp. xii-l-234, Colorotype plates, 51. 



^ Birdcraft | A Field Book of two hundred Song | Game, and Water Birds | 

 By I Mabel Osgood Wright — Author of ' The Friendship of Nature,' ' Tommy 

 Anne' | 'Citizen Bird,' etc. | With Eighty Full-Page Plates by | Louis 

 Agassiz Fuertes | New York | The Macmillan Company | London : Mac- 

 millan & Co., Ltd. 1897 | All rights reserved — | 8vo. pp xvi -f- 317 ; colored 

 frontispiece and 79 full-page half-tones. 



"The Auk, XII, 1895, p. 283. 



