154 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Birds of North and Middle America. By Kobert Ridgway. 

 Part I. Fain. Fringillidce: Washington : Government 

 Printing Office. 



This is the first volume of what will be a very large work, and 

 there is little doubt that it will be completed ; for American 

 enterprise is to-day beyond any other in zoology, thanks to a 

 fostering government. The faunistic area dealt with is from 

 the Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies, 

 and other Islands of the Caribbean Sea,* and the Galapagos 

 Archipelago. This publication will be considered a fragment in 

 the years to come, when the " Birds of America " will be written 

 — from the Arctic Lands to Patagonia, for that must be the 

 America of the future, if political destinies ever cast a pre- 

 liminary shadow. 



Mr. Ridgway defines ornithology as comprising two distinct 

 studies — systematic or scientific, and popular. The scientific is 

 stated to deal with the structure and classification of birds, their 

 synonymies, and technical descriptions. The " popular " is 

 estimated as treating " of their habits, songs, nesting, and other 

 facts pertaining to their life-histories." Believing science, as 

 long since taught, to be " organized common sense," we should 

 prefer to call both these phases of study scientific ornithology — 

 the one technical, the other bionomical. The systematic problem 

 has been abundantly considered by Mr. Ridgway, and much is 

 advanced that is new. In the Fringillidce, Dr. Sharpe's Cocco- 

 thraustince, Fringillince, and Emberizince are estimated as " so- 

 called subfamilies" and "unnatural groups." From such questions, 

 which must be left to the ultimate decision of the higher criticism, 

 we may at least glance at some others. It is to be regretted that 

 the author recognizes " trinomials " as a " necessary evil," and, 

 as a logical sequence, the Cardinal Grosbeak is referred to as 

 * Except Trinidad and Tobago. 



