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Key to North American Birds .... 

 with which are incorporated General 

 Ornithology: An Outline of the Structure 

 and Classification of Birds; and Field 

 Ornithology, a Manual of Collecting, 

 Preparing and Preserving Birds. Fifth 

 Edition, entirely revised. By Elliott 

 CouES. Boston: Uana Estes & Co., 

 1903. Two volumes, royal 8vo. xli+ 1152 

 pages, 747 black and white illustrations 

 in the text two full-page colored plates. 

 The fifth edition of this great work appears 

 in two volumes, but otherwise resembles in 

 form the second to fourth editions. The 

 Historical Preface and Part I, Field Orni- 

 thology, are evidently printed from the 

 plates used in former editions; Part II, 

 General Ornithology, is unchanged, save 

 for the addition of some material chiefly in 

 relation to the colors of feathers (pp. 88, 92), 

 in which we regret to see that the now 

 exploded theory of repigmentation of a 

 fully grown feather is given credence. 



We cannot believe that Dr. Coues 

 intended this part of the Key to go to press 

 without at least some reference to the 

 numerous important contributions to our 

 knowledge of avian anatomy which have 

 been made since the text originally appeared 

 in 1884. 



It is in Part III, Systematic Synopsis of 

 North American Birds, that the principal 

 changes from the old Key will be found. 

 This appears to have been recast to con- 

 form in the main to the nomenclature of 

 the A. O. U. 'Check-List', but the order 

 of arrangement differs, the Thrushes 

 standing at the beginning instead of at the 

 end of the list. 



There is additional general matter here, 

 as well as descriptions of forms not included 

 in earlier editions, and to these descriptions 

 are usually added the more important refer- 

 ences concerning the bird under considera- 

 tion — an exceedingly htlpful feature. 

 There are also more common names given; 

 but where these are not in use, as they are 

 for certain wild-fowl, for example, it 

 would seem more desirable to ignore them 



and give only the name appearing in the 

 A. O. U. 'Check-List'. The latter, it 

 may be noted, is often wanting, and we 

 miss also the A. O. U. serial numbers, the 

 absence of which will prove an incon- 

 venience in a variety of ways. 



It is in the illustrations that the new Key 

 will be found to differ most strikingly from 

 its predecessors. Not only are many of 

 those which have seen service in numerous 

 books very properly discarded, but a great 

 number of new cuts have been introduced. 

 These are, in the main, by Mr. Fuertes, 

 who made them especially for this work. 

 It is needless to say that they are spirited 

 and life-like pictures of the birds they 

 portray, and we wish we could say that they 

 had been adecjuately reproduced ; but in 

 'silhouetting' or 'routing out' the half- 

 tone plate the outline of the bird has often 

 been marred, while the attempt to use half- 

 tones in the text on a soft-finish paper has 

 met with the usual failure. Comparison of 

 cuts from the old Nichols wood -engravings, 

 with their clear gradations and satisfactory 

 definition, with these muddy, clogged 

 half-tone prints illustrates only too forcibly 

 how impossible it is to get satisfactory 

 results from half-tones on anything but 

 coated or calendared paper. 



The task of seeing these volumes through 

 the press fell to the lot of Mr, J. A. Farley, 

 and in view of the numerous difficulties 

 and complications which, of necessity, are 

 encountered in editing a posthumously 

 published manuscript, it must be said 

 that he has done his work remarkably well. 

 Slips there are here and there, as, for 

 example, the captions to cuts Nos. 461 

 and 684, in which the Sharp-shinned Hawk 

 and Marbled Murrelet are called respec- 

 tively "Pigeon Hawk" and "American 

 Herring Gull, Young." But these are of 

 minor importance when one considers the 

 opportunities for error in printing a work 

 of this kind. Mr. Farley adds a table of 

 the additions to the list of North American 



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