Book News and Reviews 
‘DIRECTORY TO THE BIRDS OF EASTERN 
NortH America. Illustrated with many 
woodcuts and twenty plates drawn and 
engraved by the author. By Charles J. 
Maynard, West Newton, Mass. C. J. 
Maynard. 1907. 12mo. 2oplates, many 
text-cuts. 
‘ With a wide experience in the field, as 
well as with pen, pencil and brush, and an 
independent attitude of mind which does 
not bow to conventions, the originality 
which usually marks Mr. Maynard’s con- 
tributions to ornithology is particularly 
‘evident in the present volume, a copy of 
which we have but lately received for 
review. 
The classification adopted is in the 
main that of the A. O. U., but no hesita- 
tion is shown in departing from that stan- 
‘dard; the Limicolze, for example, being 
placed directly after the Rhynchopide, 
while the Titmice follow the Jays. There 
are also numerous departures from the 
A. O. U. ‘Check-List,’ in the order of 
‘species and in the use of generic and spe- 
cific names. In the Warblers, no less than 
fourteen new generic names are proposed; 
but none of them, we believe, has been 
‘accepted by the Union. 
The text includes matter under Orders, 
Families, Genera, Species and Sub- 
‘species, and contains much general and 
‘specific information presented in a con- 
densed, direct form. In a large measure 
it is based on the author’s own observa- 
tions, and is therefore of more importance 
to the ornithologist than the work of a 
‘compiler. 
Mr. Maynard speaks as one in authority, 
but we notice a few slips. The cut on 
page 8, for example, fails to show the 
reyerse imbrication of the median and 
greater wing-coverts. Again, the keel on 
the White Pelican’s bill is not retained 
until autumn, but is usually shed before 
the eggs hatch, while the young Flamingo 
is not helpless, but can run shortly after 
birth. It would be well, also, to change 
“Phoebe,” on page 196, to Pewee, in 
making the comparison of the Chickadee’s 
whistle. The reported breeding of the 
Man-o’ War Bird and Flamingo in Florida, 
and the nesting of Carolina Paroquets “in 
communities,’ coming from Mr. Maynard, 
demand consideration, and we trust that 
the details on which these records are 
doubtless based will be published.— 
F. M. €. 
THE Brirps oF NEw JERSEY; THEIR 
NEsts AND Eccs. By Witmer Stone. 
Annual report of the New Jersey State 
Museum for 1908. Trenton, N. J. 1909. 
8vo. Part II, pages 11 to 347; plates 1 
to 84. 
It is not a little remarkable that a state 
as small as New Jersey, with two of the 
largest and oldest cities in the country on 
its borders, has heretofore had no authori- 
tative work on its birds, with the excep- 
tion of two publications including eastern 
Pennsylvania as well. An exception might 
also be made of ‘The Birds of New 
Jersey,’ published by the Fish and Game 
Commission, in 1896; but this work, 
howeyer reliable and useful, is wholly a 
compilation, with the species arranged 
alphabetically under their common names. 
The annotated list issued by the state in 
1868, and its successor of 1890, are both 
wholly untrustworthy. There have, how- 
ever, been several excellent local lists 
published, notably those of Morris county 
and Princeton, and one including in its 
scope the area within fifty miles of New 
York City. 
The present work is much more than 
a mere faunal list. To use the author’s 
words: ‘‘The aim has been to present 
keys and descriptions that will enable 
any one to identify birds that he may see, 
to give a brief sketch of the more charac- 
teristic habits of the common species, and 
at the same time to include such facts 
and records on the distribution of all the 
species as will make the report a thor- 
oughly up-to-date list of the birds of the 
state.” That the author’s aim has been 
achieved, there can be no doubt. The 
biographical paragraphs are to the point, 
(37) 
