^°i8q8^] Recent TJtrralurc. 7 I 



The Proper Name of the Western Horned Owl.' — In a jiaper in ' Tlie 

 Auk' for April, 1S96 (p. 153), Mr. Stone proposed tiie name occidctUalis 

 in place of stiharcticiis Hoy, the latter being a synonym of arctirus Swain., 

 selectiniic a type specimen from Mitchell Co., Iowa. This specimen, how- 

 ever, proved not to belong to the form he intended to name (see Auk, 

 Jan., 1S97, p. 134), and he therefore now renames it pallescens {Bubo vir- 

 gi)iiani(s pallescetis), selecting as type an example from near San Antonio, 

 Texas. 



With this change the Horned Owls would stand in the i\. (). V . Clieck- 

 List as follows : 



375. Bubo vtrginianus (Gmel.). Great Horned Owl. 



375 re. Bubo virginianus pallescens ?)\.ox\&. Western Horned Owl. 



375/'. B/iho virghiianns arcticus {S\\Vi\ns.). Arctic Horned Owl. 



375 c. Bubo virginianus saturatus Ridgw. Dusky Horned Owl. 



375^. Bubo virginianus pacijjcus Cuss. Pacific Horned Owl. — J. A. A 



' Nature's Diary.'- —Under this title Mr. Francis H. Allen has brought 

 together a large number of selections from the works of Thoreau, Bur- 

 roughs, Torrej, Bolles, LoAvell, Hawthorne, Emerson, and others — in all 

 379 quotations from 14 wellrknown authors — one or more for each day 

 of the year. Nearlj- two-thirds of the quotations are from Thoreau, and 

 about one seventh from Burroughs. They relate primarily to birds and 

 flowers, but many are general, or relate to the season rather than to any 

 individual species of bird, beast, or plant. The work is not paged, and 

 has no index. The' quotations are printed on the left hand page, two days 

 being allotted to each page, and the right hand page is a "Calendar of 

 the arrival of birds and the first blooming of flowers." The locality to 

 which most of the quotations refer is "the neighborhood of Boston. 

 This -\\\\\ doubtless prove a welcome anthology to lovers of nature. — 

 J. A. A. 



Baskett's ' The Story of the Birds.' ^ — Mr. Baskett's ' Story of tlie Birds' 

 does not pretend to tell the whole story but attempts " to present in a 



' Proper name for the Western Horned Owl of North America. By Wit- 

 mer Stone. American Naturalist, March, 1897, p. 236. 



^Nature's Diary | Compiled by | Francis H. Allen | " A minstrel of the nat- 

 ural year." | [Seal] Boston and New York | Houghton, Mifflin and Company [ 

 The Riverside Press, Cambridge | 1897 | — i2mo. pp. v + about 190II., un- 

 paged, with 8 photogravure pll. 



3 Appleton's Home Reading Books | — \ The | Story of the Birds | By | 

 James Newton Baskett, M. A. | Associate Member of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union | [Vignette] New York j D. Appleton and Company | 1897 — 

 i2mo, pp. XXX -f- 263, with 20 full-page illustrations and numerous cuts in 

 the text. 



