Vo'^^VJ Recettt Literature. 277 



hunting for it without some Gort of introductory key is increased hy 

 these divisions ratiier than lessened, for if all of the Sparrows and 

 Warblers were in one place instead of in three or four the case would be 

 more hopeful. Yet such great tenderness has the author shown for 

 his readers that he has managed to do without not only keys and diagrams 

 but all technical terms, even banishing such easy every-day expressions 

 as primaries, secondaries, wing-coverts and tail-coverts, substituting 

 therefor such circumlocutions as may seem to best fit the case. The 

 descriptions of the birds are variously interwoven with the general text, 

 all the matter being uniformly in large type. A novel feature has also 

 been introduced into the illustrations, there being many reproductions of 

 photographs of bird skins made up as cabinet specimens and of dead 

 birds laid out in a similar attitude. However such illustrations may 

 strike the reader from the sentimental side, especially the ' how-to-know- 

 birds-without-a-gu-n ' class, it must be confessed that they can be made of 

 verv efficient service as an aid in identification. There are many illustra- 

 tions of young birds and birds' nests from life, but many of the full page 

 plates are from mounted birds placed in natural surroundings. The 

 effect in manv cases is excellent, but there is a tale-tale expression about 

 the eves and head, if not elsewhere, that shows the bird is dead and not 

 alive, however clever the artist's conception. 



One of the most valuable parts of the book is the ten pages devoted to 

 the Blue Jay. The full page illustrations give, (i) the nest and eggs, (2 

 and 3), the nest with young, (4) the 'Blue Jay hammering,' and (5) in 

 repose. There are four other figures of young birds of various ages, 

 from six to fourteen days old. The purpose of this digression is to give 

 some account, "by word and picture, of how voung birds grow," and 

 the details of the matter thus presented are especially interesting and 

 instructive. Mr. Scott refers to the exercise of the muscles of the feet 

 b}' the voung birds by constantly grasping, first with one foot and then 

 the other, the twigs and rootlets composing the lining of the nest. As 

 sho^"n by some experiments he relates, this constant exercise of the feet 

 is necessary for the proper development of these members, it being, he 

 believes, the natural function of the nest-lining to afford a grasping 

 surface to the feet. 



As a contribution to popular bird literature Mr. Scott's book is excel- 

 lent so far as it goes, but we believe its efficiency as a help to the student 

 in finding out the name of an unknown bird would have been greatly 

 strengthened by adding ' keys,' and consequently some sort of system in 

 the arrangement of the species. The ' systematic arrangement,' is given, 

 it is true, in the form of a list at the end of the book, including the 

 names and classification, from order to subspecies, from the Gallinoe 

 to the end of the song birds. The book is beautifully printed, and with 

 its wealth of illustrations, presents a very attractive appearance. 



Mr. Apgar's 'Birds, of the United States east of the Rocky Moun- 



