Al'RiL 19, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



437 



ries, investigators and wTitere, booksellers 

 and book buyers. 



It is evident, however, that existing 

 agencies which are now engaged in biblio- 

 graphical and index work should all be 

 conciliated and enlisted in the work. 



The Royal Societj', the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, the special societies, such as the Zo- 

 ological Society of Loudon, the American 

 Chemical Society, all groups of bibliogra- 

 phers engaged in the preparation of such 

 works as the Zeitschrift fiir Orieidalkche Bib- 

 liographie, and the great individual biblio- 

 graphei-s, like Professor Cams, should be 

 brought in. 



The sale of the work woiild undoubtedly 

 cover the expense of printing and publish- 

 ing, and it is not impossible that a consider- 

 able part of the expense of compiling might 

 also thus be covered. 



Considerable monej- subsidies would how- 

 ever be essential if the thing is to be done 

 well. 



The editorial work should doubtless be 

 done without regard to geographical con- 

 siderations, under the direction of special- 

 ized societies or institutions which should 

 also be depositories of special informa- 

 tion in regard to the bibliography to 

 which they are devoted. It would be well, 

 however, that in everj' country there 

 should be a central ofece or depot where 

 all the publications of that country should 

 be systematically gathered. 



It would seem also that some suitable plan 

 should be dcAised for giving individual 

 credit to the persons bj- whom the work is 

 done, for there is an immense deal of self- 

 sacrificing and conscientious work put into 

 bibliograpliy, and the pride of the biblio- 

 grapher in having produced a thorough and 

 ■workmanlike contribution in his chosen 

 field is perhaps scarcely less than that of 

 literary authorship. 



G. Browx Goode. 



r. .S. Natioxal Museum. 



fiCIESriFIC UTERATUBE. 

 A Handbook of the Bird-i of Eastern Xorlh 

 America. By Fraxk M. Chapman. New 

 York, D. Appleton & Co. 1895. 12°, 

 pp. 4'20. Library edition, heavy paper, 

 broad margins. Pocket edition, thin 

 paper, no margi^is. 83.00. 

 We live in a period of unusual produc- 

 tiveness in ornithological literature. We 

 have technical works of scientific merit, 

 popular works of literary merit, and local 

 lists almost without end. But ornitholo- 

 gists and amateurs alike have long felt the 

 need of a compact handbook small enough 

 to be carried in the pocket, and full enough 

 to afford means of readj' identification. 

 Another desideratum was that it should be 

 written in language not too technical for 

 the beginner. The older ornithologists, 

 while recognizing the demand for such a 

 book, have been too busy with special stud- 

 ies, and it has remained for one of the 

 younger men to bring out. 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the author of 

 the present Handhooh, has sought to fill the 

 gap. He has written a book so free from 

 technicalities as to be intelligible to a four- 

 teen-year old boy, and so convenient and 

 full of original information as to be indis- 

 pensable to the working ornithologist. His 

 plan is unique ; his descriptions are from 

 actual specimens (not compiled); they are 

 written in plain English, so that no glossary 

 is necessary, and are accompanied l)y nu- 

 merous figures of heads, feet and tails as aids 

 to identification. The description of each 

 species is followed by paragraphs giving tlie 

 geographic i-ange (and the breeding i-ange 

 is commonly discriminated from the migra- 

 toiy and winter ranges); the time of pres- 

 ence at Washington. Long Id. [water birds] , 

 Sing Sing and Cambridge ;^- descriptions of 

 the nest and eggs, and a brief popular ac- 



* Tlie (lata for these 4 stations arc contributed re- 

 spectively by Clias. W. Kiclimond, Wni. Dutcher, Dr. 

 A. K. Fisher and William Brewster. 



