32 
MERRILL’S ‘TREATISE ON ROCKS.’ 
To THE EDITOR OF SCIENCE: In animadvert- 
ing on the defective English of Professor Mer- 
rill’s ‘Treatise on Rocks,’ etc., in your current 
number, Mr. Woodworth says: ‘‘In the case of 
other quotations it is sometimes doubtful as to 
which author the work in a certain district is to 
be referred’’ (page 996). Will the author of 
this sentence kindly express his idea in Ger- 
man or French or Chinook, and thereby oblige 
half a dozen readers who find themselves un- 
able to grasp his exact meaning ? 
W J McGEE. 
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 26, 1897. 
THE TRIAL OF THE CROSSLEY REFLECTOR OF 
THE LICK OBSERVATORY. ‘ 
A MATTER relating to work at the Lick Ob- 
servatory (with reference to the trial of the 
three-foot reflecting telescope presented to us 
by Mr. Crossley, of England, in 1895) has 
lately been discussed in newspaper press-dis- 
patches in rather a one-sided fashion. I desire 
to say that the questions involved have been 
passed upon by the Regents of the University 
of California, who have, unanimously, approved 
my action. The decisions of the Regents have 
not been spoken of in press-dispatches, which 
is my reason for writing this note. 
EpWARD 8S. HOLDEN. 
THE LICK OBSERVATORY, June 21, 1897. 
SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 
Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty. By HENRY 
NEBRLING. Published by George Brumder, 
Milwaukee. Vol. II., 4°. Pp. 453; 18 col- 
ored plates. Complete work in 16 parts, 
$16; bound in 2 vols., library binding, $18; 
handsome dark leather binding, $22. 
The second complete volume of this admira- 
ble work, some of the separate parts of which 
haye been already noticed in these pages, has 
now been issued to subscribers. The two 
volumes make a handsome addition to any 
library and should be in the possession of all 
lovers of birds. The work contains no techni- 
cal matter, and little effort has been made to 
incorporate the latest facts bearing on the geo- 
graphic distribution of the various species, the 
aim being to supply trustworthy accounts of 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. VI. No. 131. 
the life histories of the birds in relation to their 
environment and in their relations to man. 
Mr. Nehrling has the instincts and sympathies 
of a naturalist. He is evidently a botanist and 
musician as well as an ornithologist, and his 
descriptions of bird life are generally woven in 
with pictures of shady ravines and forest glades 
or flowery dells where the birds and plants and 
landscape are seen together as they are in na- 
ture. His residence in widely separated locali- 
ties—Wisconsin, Missouri, Texas and Florida— 
has enabled him to become familiar witha large 
proportion of the birds he treats, and his per- 
sonal knowlege is supplemented by copious ex- 
tracts from the writings of others. Special 
emphasis is given to economic relations and 
breeding habits. 
As stated in notices of the earlier parts, the 
illustrations, all of which are colored, show the 
birds in natural surroundings and are of two 
kinds: plates of single species, mostly by 
Robert Ridgway; and mixed plates, by Mutzel 
and Goring. Some of Mr. Ridgway’s plates of 
single species are among the most charming 
bird pictures I haveever seen. Those of special 
excellence in the present volume are the Black 
Rosy Finch (Leucosticte atrata) and Dickcissel 
(Spiza americana)—the former on a mountain 
top, the latter in a clover field. Three of the 
mixed plates by Mitzel are worthy of special 
mention; Plate X XI, a group of showy winter 
birds—the Pine Bullfinch, White-winged Cross- 
bill, Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak, Nuthatch and 
Chickadee—in the top of asnow-covered spruce; 
Plate XXVIII, the Blue Grosbeak and three 
species of Passerina—the Indigo Bird, Painted 
Bunting and Lazuli Finch; Plate XXXYI, six 
species of brilliantly colored Woodpeckers. 
Even in the mixed plates the attempt has 
been made to group the species in appropriate 
surroundings, and much pains has been taken 
with the landscape and vegetation. Thus, 
Goring’s picture of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, 
Green Jay and Verdin shows these birds (and 
one or two others) among cactuses, flowering 
agaves, and aborescent yuccas with a barren 
range of desert mountains in the background. 
Although the plates are of uneven merit, 
even the poorest are sufficiently good to serve 
the purpose of identification and will be most 
