438 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 16. 



count of the habits. The latter is a special 

 feature of the book. Many of the biog- 

 raphies are contributed by well-known 

 authors and were written expressly for this 

 work — a novel departure. Among the 

 names signed to these articles are those of 

 Mrs. Olive Thome Miller, Miss Florence A. 

 Merriam, William Brewster, Eugene P. 

 Bicknell, Jonathan Dwight, Jr., Ernest E. 

 Thompson and Bradford Torrey. Biit it 

 would be unfair to imply that the contrib- 

 uted biographies, excellent as they are, are 

 better than those of the author. Mr. Chap- 

 man is not only a naturalist of wide field 

 experience and a close observer ; he is in 

 addition a true lover of birds, and his short 

 sketches of the diiferent species contain the 

 essence of their life histories. 



Another feature of the book is the keys 

 to species. These keys have been prepared 

 with great care, and, while not always di- 

 chotomous, are so complete as to enable the 

 student to identify the females and young 

 as well as the adult birds — a rare merit. A 

 chromolithograph chart comprising 30 colors 

 serves as a key to the terms used in describ- 

 ing plumages — an advantage not possessed 

 by any other American Ornithology. The 

 ilhistrations also are helpful. The text 

 figures, more than 150 in number, will prove 

 of great assistance. The frontispiece is a 

 colored plate of the Bob-white or Quail in a 

 bramble thicket, by Ernest E. Thompson. 

 The other full-page plates are engraved 

 half-tone reproductions of photographs. One 

 shows the heads of 15 kinds of ducks and 

 will be most useful. The remaining 16 are 

 photographs of mounted birds in natural 

 surroundings and serve to embellish the 

 book. One of the best and most artistic 

 shows a rail on his marsh ( from a group in 

 the American Museum). 



Fifteen profusely illustrated pages are 

 filled by the keys to the larger groups, and 

 the figures alone should suffice to enable be- 

 ginners to refer any bird to its proper familj\ 



The systematic part of the book is pre- 

 faced by 40 pages of introduction, in which 

 an effort is made to place the study of birds 

 on a higher plane than that of the mere 

 collector and student of technicalities. Mr. 

 Chapman well says : " Birds, because of their 

 beauty, the charm of their songs, and the 

 ease mth which they may be observed, are 

 usuallj^ the forms of animal life which first 

 attract the young naturalist's attention. . . 

 . . The uninstructed begiuner usually ex- 

 pends his energies in making a collection, 

 for he knows no better way of pursuing his 

 study of birds than to kill and stuff them ! 

 Collecting specimens is a step in the scien- 

 tific study of birds, but ornithology would 

 have small claim to our consideration if its 

 possibilities ended here." 



The scope of the introduction may be 

 seen from the chapter headings : The study 

 of ornithology ; The study of birds out of 

 doors ( including bird calendars for the 

 vicinity of New York ) ; Collecting birds, 

 their nests and eggs ; Plan of the work ( in- 

 cluding a bird diagram, feather patterns, 

 and so on). 



It is hard to find anything worthy of se- 

 rious criticism in this excellent and timely 

 book. The iise of English inches instead 

 of millimeters is a blemish in a work of 

 scientific value, and is less excusable since 

 the persons who use it will be students and 

 graduates of our schools, who are familiar 

 with the system. We trust that in the next 

 edition the author will not only substitute 

 millimeters for inches and fractions, and 

 make all the keys dichotomous, but that he 

 will enlarge the scope of the work so as to 

 take in the great West as well as the East — 

 giving us a ' Handbook of the birds of 

 America north of Mexico.' 



The plan and originality of Chapman's 

 Handbook, its copious illustrations, bounti- 

 ful keys, succinct accounts of habits, con- 

 venient size and low price insure it wide 

 popularity ; while as a handbook of the 



