856 THE AMERICAN NATURALLIST. [Vor. XXXV. 
leave the ordinary reader with no very clear notion of the author's 
ideas on the subjects of instinct, habit, fear, etc. His conclusions, 
though in accord with such an excellent authority as Principal 
Morgan, are by no means clearly presented. The reader follows on 
one page a rather discursive account of an encounter with a black 
snake, and, turning the page, finds himself confronted with a difficult 
paragraph on the instinct of fear. The anecdotes which are to elu- 
cidate the principles laid down, or to be laid down, overweigh the 
reasoning, and often have no especial bearing. More systematic 
arrangement of ideas, an occasional paragraph recapitulating con- 
clusions, and an introductory line here and there to show the bearing 
of the coming anecdote would greatly increase the value of the semi- 
scientific chapters. It might have been better, moreover, to avoid 
the dogmatic attitude of the paragraphs on the nest-building instinct 
on page xvi, and make reference at least to the possibility of tradi- 
tion playing a part in handing on the art of nest building. The 
nests built by chaffinches turned loose in New Zealand (A. R. Wal- 
lace, Darwinism, p. 76) may be adduced as evidence that a bird like 
the robin perhaps does not make mud nests **as instinctively as it 
lays blue eggs." 
Of undoubted scientific value are Professor Herrick's observations 
on the food offered to the young, on the way the food is carried to 
them, and on the sanitation of the nest. The sensitiveness of the 
gullet of young birds and the parent's habit of taking out food not 
immediately swallowed and transferring it to another gullet, throws 
light on what has been hitherto an obscure process. It is doubtful 
whether the home life of other passerine birds will vary much from 
the types observed by Professor Herrick, but there is, as he suggests, 
a great unexplored field in the orders. 
It is as a popular but unusually accurate and thoughtful presem 
tation of a subject at present much in vogue that the book has - 
special claim to recognition. Professor Herrick's patience, ingenuity, 
and quick power of observation deserve the success with whi the 
book is sure to meet. The wealth of extraordinarily good illustra" 
tions, the intimate relations with birds into which the reader is 
brought, will fascinate any one who has any interest in the study 
of living animals. If the author's style lacks the inspiration which 
a more imaginative temperament might give to it, his scientific habit 
of mind, joined to his evident enthusiasm, make ‘him an excellent 
guide and model for those who may begin observation by his me" 
The method is admirably suited for instruction in summer schools, 
