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The Sequence of Plumages and Moults 

 OF THE Passerine Birds of New York. 

 By Jonathan Dvvight, Jr. Annals of 

 the New York Academy of Sciences. 

 Vol. XIII, Part I, pp. 73-345; pll. vii. 

 Oct. 19, 1900. 



Although birds are doubtless better 

 jcnown than the members of any other order 

 of animals, the laws governing the loss and 

 renewal of feathers, the bird's unique char- 

 acter, are in this paper adequately treated 

 for the first time. That we have so long 

 existed in comparative ignorance of the 

 manner of molting of many of our com- 

 monest birds is due primarily to the lack 

 of proper material with which to study 

 their plumage changes. Collectors desired 

 only perfectly feathered specimens and 

 made no efforts to secure birds during the 

 period of molt. Nor did they attempt to 

 ascertain, by an examination of the cra- 

 nium, the age of the specimen preserved. 



Appreciating the need of proper material 

 to enable us to clearly understand this 

 exceedingly important function in a bird's 

 economy. Dr. Dwight began some twenty 

 years ago to form a collection of New York 

 birds on which to base the studies which 

 are in part presented in the present paper * 

 of over 250 pages. 



The work is far too extended for us to 

 review it in detail; furthermore, we hope 

 later that Dr. Dwight will himself favor 

 Bird-Lore's readers with an extended re- 

 sume of his studies. We append, therefore, 

 only a list of the eight leading heads under 

 which the subject has been treated: i. ' In- 

 door Study of Moult.' 2. ' Process of Moult.' 

 3. 'Early Plumages and Moults of Young 

 Birds.' 4. 'Sequence of Plumages and 

 Moults.' 5. ' Color Facts, t'j. Color Theo- 

 ries.' 6. 'Outdoor Study of Moult.' 7. ' Plu- 



For additional papers by Dr. Dwight on the molt of 

 birds, see the following: The ' Moult of the North 

 American Tetraonidae (Quails, Partridges, Grouse);' 

 'The Auk,' igoo, pp. 34-51, 143-166; 'The Moult of 

 the North American Shore Birds (Limicol^), ibid., pp. 

 368-385; 'The Sequence of Moults and Plumages of 

 the Larids (Gulls and Terns),' ibid., 1901, pp. 49~63. 



mages and Moults of New York Species.' 

 8. ' Bibliography.' 



To this brief table of contents we may 

 add our estimate that Dr. Dwight's work is 

 the most important contribution to Ameri- 

 can ornithology since the publication of 

 Dr. Coues' ' Key ' in 1884. It should be 

 in the possession of every earnest student of 

 birds.— F. M. C. 



Animal Life. A first book in Zoology. 

 By David Starr Jordan and Vernon L. 

 Kellogg. New York. D. Appleton & 

 Co. i2mo, page ix-l-329. Numerous 

 illustrations. 



This is a text-book which adequately pre- 

 sents the most advanced and approved ideas 

 in the teaching of zoology to the general 

 student. The matter of classification which, 

 until recently, has been the leading if not 

 the only theme of class-room manuals, is 

 here accorded only four pages at the end of 

 the volume, and the study of animal life is 

 approached subjectively under such sugges- 

 tive headings as 'The Life Cycle,' ' Func- 

 tion and Structure,' 'Adaptations,' 'Para- 

 sitism and Degeneration,' 'Protective Re- 

 semblances and Mimicry,' 'Instinct and 

 Reason,' 'Homes and Domestic Habits,' 

 'Geographical Distribution of Animals,' 

 etc. As a result of a study of these funda- 

 mental factors in the life and the interre- 

 lations of animals, the student is not repelled 

 by the terminology of classification, but in- 

 evitably must be attracted by the marvelous 

 story of life and impressed by man's kinship 

 with the animals below him. It is, there- 

 fore, not alone a book for the student, but 

 also for the general reader. 



In the philosophic treatment of so wide a 

 range of topics the authors must necessarily 

 consider many phenomena in the explanation 

 of which authorities still differ, and we could 

 wish, therefore, that in place of a certain 

 positiveness of tone they had seen fit to give 

 more than one view of various disputed cases, 

 if for no other reason than with an object of 

 pointing out lines for further research. For 

 example, the migration of birds is alluded 



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