Book News and Meviews 
Birps oF New York. By ELon HOWARD 
Eaton. New York State Museum, 
Memoir 12, Part 1. Introductory 
Chapters; Water Birds and Game 
Birds. Albany, University of the State 
of New York. 1910. 4to., 501 pages, 
42 colored plates. 
The first of the two volumes of this im- 
portant work is now before us, and it fully 
meets anticipations aroused by a knowl- 
edge of the labor which has been unspar- 
ingly expended in its preparation. Mr. 
Eaton has shown admirable judgment in 
the arrangement of his text, and in the 
selection of material and presentation of 
data has exercised a care and thorough- 
ness which makes his work authoritative 
in the highest degree. Thoroughly familiar 
with previously recorded information in 
regard to the birds of New York state, he 
has himself had a wide field of experience 
in this same area, and he has enlisted the 
services of many other observers. The 
volume, therefore, adequately reflects our 
existing knowledge. The introductory 
matter contains a ‘Summary of the New 
York State Avifauna,’ ‘Life Zones of New 
York State,’ with maps of much general 
interest, ‘The Mt. Marcy Region,’ ‘In- 
crease and Decrease of Species,’ “Sugges- 
tions to Bird Students,’ ‘Bird Migration,’ 
‘Spring Arrivals,’ ‘Published Local List,’ 
‘County Schedules,’ ‘Classification,’ then, 
under the head of “Descriptions of Genera 
and Species,’ and occupying pages 91 to 
390, we have descriptions of plumage and 
sections on ‘Field Marks,’ ‘Distribution,’ 
‘Migrations,’ “Haunts and Habits’ and 
‘Nest and Eggs’ of the water- and game- 
birds of the state. 
Lacking space in which to review the 
text of this work in detail, we can simply © 
unreservedly commend it both as regards 
matter and manner. It contains a large 
amount of new material, and constitutes 
a noteworthy addition to our knowledge 
of birds. 
The forty-two colored plates by Mr. 
Fuertes, bound at the end of this volume, 
add in so large a measure to its value and 
attractiveness that we are not a little sur- 
prised to find that the illustrator’s name 
does not appear on the title page of the 
work. Not since Audubon has there been 
published such a slpendid series of colored 
plates of our water and game birds. While 
the necessity of grouping a number of birds 
on the same plate has at times necessarily 
produced an inartistic crowding of figures, 
we nevertheless have a series of bird por- 
traits which, on the whole, in our opinion, 
are superior to any that have been made 
of the same species. The four-color pro- 
cess by which the plates were reproduced 
has evidently, with few exceptions, done 
justice to the originals, and as a series, 
therefore, the plates are fully up to the stan- 
dard of the text they accompany, an esti- 
mate of their worth which we think should 
be equally satisfactory to both author and 
artist.—F. M. €. 
CASSINIA: PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELA- 
WARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB, 
No. x11, 1909. Philadelphia, Pa. 8vo. 
66 pages, 1 plate. 
‘Cassinia’ brings its characteristic at- 
mosphere of ornithological good fellow- 
ship, the secret of which is sympathetically 
explained in a delightful little sketch, 
by George Spencer Morris, on ‘The D. 
V. O. C. and its Twentieth Anniversary.’ 
“Life in the open,’’ he writes, “the love 
of nature, the joy in her beauties, the touch 
of adventure, the dash of sport, and then 
the illusive grace and charm of the wild 
bird prevading it all—that is ornithology.” 
Certainly it is the kind of ornithology the 
D. V. O. €. has thrived on, and the 
writer concludes, “After twenty years we 
find our little club stronger and more in 
earnest than ever before, and thus, we 
meet the future with confidence born 
of the knowledge that a good work has 
been well begun.” Why are there not 
more D. V. O. C.’s? 
’ Other papers in this number are a 
biography of Thomas B. Wilson, D.D., 
by Witmer Stone; ‘Duck Shooting on the 
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