iloofe J^etos and l^etjictos 



Field Book of Wild Birds and Their 

 Music. By F. Schuyler Matthews. 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 1904. 

 i6mo. Pages xxxv -|- 262 ; pll. mostly 

 colored), 55. 



This is the most interesting and success- 

 ful attempt to treat the subject of bird song 

 ■with which we are familiar. If we franklv 

 acknowledge that in most instances no 

 description, notation or graphic representa- 

 tion will give one an adequate idea of a 

 bird's song one has never heard, there is 

 still much the describer of bird music may 

 do to aid the bird student in identifying 

 the voices of unseen singers. This Mr. 

 Matthews proceeds to do by a variety of 

 means — notation, ingenious diagrams, 

 syllabification, description, etc. 



Mr. Matthews is evidently well qualified 

 to handle his subject, both from the 

 ornithologist's and musician's point of view. 

 He avoids the mistake, common to most 

 writers who render bird song by musical 

 notation, of assuming that every bird student 

 reads music, and furnishes a special chapter 

 for those whose education in this direction 

 has been neglected, which should go far 

 toward making his book intelligible to them. 

 He does well, we think, to emphasize the 

 importance of rhythm over tone, not only 

 because rhythm is less variable than tone 

 but because it can be more readily and 

 ■clearly expressed. 



Mr. Matthews' illustrations are by no 

 means the least interesting part of his book. 

 Most of them are colored, from a commercial 

 standpoint successfully colored, that is, they 

 are easily recognizable, and all are the 

 work of an artist rather than a bird artist. 

 Some of them are decidedly attractive, bu*^ 

 since Mr. Matthews calls the scientist to order 

 for using the term " purple " for "crimson " (a 

 mistake, by the way, for which the scientist 

 is no more responsible than he is for the mis- 

 application of the name Robin), we cannot 

 forbear asking Mr. Matthews why he so 

 often refuses to give nine- or ten-primaried 

 oscines only four primaries! — F. M. C. 



Cassima; Proc. Delaware V'alley Orni- 

 thological Club, 'viii. 1904. 8vo. 

 Pages, 80. 



The annual publication of that successful 

 and progressive organization, the Delaware 

 Valley Ornithological Club, contains, as 

 usual, evidences of the continued activity of 

 the club and its members. Without further 

 comment than a suggestion that those inter- 

 ested secure t'-'is excellent publication, we 

 append a list of its contents: ' Samuel W. 

 Woodhouse ' (portraits), Witmer Stone; 'A 

 Chimney Swift's Day,' Cornelius Wey- 

 gandt; 'The Long-billed Marsh Wren,' 

 Chreswell J. Hunt; 'The Short-billed 

 Marsh Wren in Eastern Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey,' LaRue K. Holmes; 'The Barn 

 Owl in Chester Co., Pa.' (ills.), Thomas 

 H. Jackson; 'Summer Birds of Pocono 

 Lake, Monroe Co., Pa.,' John D. Carter; 

 'Summer Birds of Port Alleghany, McKean 

 Co., Pa.,' Thomas D. Klim; 'A Glimpse 

 of Winter Bird Life in Delaware,' Charles 

 J. Pennock; 'Report on the Spring Migra- 

 tion of 1904,' Witmer Stone; City Orni- 

 thology, Abstract of Proceedings; Club 

 Notes, list of orticers and members, the for- 

 mer being: President, Spencer Trotter; vice- 

 president, William A. Shryock; secretary, 

 William B. Evans (56 N. Front St., Phila- 

 delphia); treasurer, Stewardson Brown. — 

 F. M. C. 



Abstract of the Proc. Linn^^an Society 

 OF New York for the Years Ending 

 NLarch 10, 1903, and March 5, 1904. 

 8vo. Pages 69. 



In addition to the customary 'Abstract of 

 Proceedings, ' this publication contains "Field 

 Notes on the Birds and Mammals of the 

 Cook's Inlet Region of Alaska' (ills.), J. D. 

 Figgins; ' Some Notes on the Psychology of 

 Birds," by C. William Beebe ; 'Some Appar- 

 ently Undescribed Eggs of North American 

 Birds', by Louis B. Bishop. 



The Linnaean Society is, or should be, to 

 New York what the Delaware V^alley Club 

 is to Philadelphia, or the Nuttall Club to 



(hs) 



