NEWTON’S DICTIONARY OF BIRDS. 
A Dictionary of Birds. By ALFRED NEWTON, assisted by Hans Gadow, 
with contributions from R. Lydekker, C. E. Roy, and R. W. Shufeldt. 
Part iii. London: A. and C. Black. 4. 
Part m1. (MOA—SHEATHBILL) of this most useful work has 
been issued by Messrs. A. & C. Black, and it is once more a great 
pleasure to have to express entire satisfaction with the series of well- 
condensed treatises which Professor Newton and his fellow-workers 
have contributed towards the information and instruction of students 
of ornithology and the reading public generally. 
n the present part we have excellent notices from the pen of 
aes Newton under the respective headings of Moult, Nidifica- 
tion, Nightjar, Ostrich, Owl, Parrot, Partridge, Penguin, Petrel, 
Pheasant, Pigeon, Plover, Rhea, Ruff, Sandgrouse, Sandpiper, with 
many shorter papers of equal merit, all of which deserve the most 
careful and attentive consideration. 
The anatomical papers by Dr. Gadow are in no degree less 
important than those which have already appeared in parts i. and ii. 
Collectively they reach a standard of excellence hitherto unapproached 
by any work treating on the structure of birds. The chief of those in 
part ill. relate to the nervous and muscular systems, and regarding 
these latest contributions to the Science of Comparative Anatomy it 
will at once strike the student that any system of classification based 
on the most variable muscles of the leg, according to their mere 
presence or absence, must invariably break down when put to 
a practical test, and that it is certain that similar muscular com- 
binations in two or more birds do not necessarily imply relationship. 
There are other papers by Dr. Gadow, one under the heading o 
Pterylosis, which signifies the plumage of birds considered in regard 
to the distribution of its growth. Another admirable paper is on 
the Reproductive Organs. 
Mr. Lydekker contributes an article on the Odontornithes, a term 
used to designate the fossil birds found in ‘Cretaceous’ deposits in 
America, and distinguished by the presence of teeth, a character 
apparently common to all cretaceous birds ; of the exact position of 
these in relationship with reptilian ancestors and with existing avian 
forms it is impossible to speak with any certainty—many very hard 
and obscure points remaining to be cleared up. 
We must not fail to notice the number of beautiful figures which 
embellish the three parts of this work, from electrotypes obtained 
rom yarious sources, but chiefly from the woodcuts which illustrate 
Swainson’s great work on the ‘Classification of Birds,’ 
Feb, 1895. 
