NOTES. AND LITERATURE. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Guide to the Birds of New England and New York.'— This 
guide to the birds is on the same general plan as a number of recent 
bird-books, but the effort has been made to adapt it especially to the 
most elementary beginners. For this purpose it appears to be well 
fitted, and the author is to be complimented upon his constant appre- 
ciation of the limited view-point of the novice in bird study., Brief 
introductory chapters deal with “ The object and plan of this guide,” 
“ Birds and their seasons,” “ Migration,” “ Distribution,” “ Hints for 
field work,” and “How to use the keys.” The result of intimate 
experience with beginning field classes is apparent in these hints. 
The. keys include only “the common Jand-birds of New England 
and eastern New York,” omitting “the hawks, the owls, the Mourning 
Dove, and the game-birds.” Separate keys are given respectively 
for winter, for.March, for April, for May, for summer, and for autumn, 
and each of these has under separate divisions those birds which one 
may expect to find only in the. Upper Austral or the Canadian life- 
zones, These keys are based primarily upon conspicuous coloration 
and secondarily upon size, supplemented by characteristics of color, 
habits or habitat. Taken in connection with the fuller descriptions, 
and often excellent, brief biographies given in the body of the work, 
they impress one as being very efficient, In the descriptive portion 
are incorporated the water birds and others not included in the scope 
of the keys, and one cannot but regret that some guide is not given 
to aid in their identification as well. The illustrations consist of five 
full-page plates, including a map showing the life-zones in New 
England, and ninety-five text figures, which add much to the useful- 
ness of the book. L. 
Hornaday's American Natural History.?— It is perhaps unfor- 
1 Hoffmann, Ralph. A Guide to the Birds of New England and New York. 
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 
- 2 Hornaday, William T. 74e American: Natural History. A foundation of cmi 
ful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. fe 
drawings by Beard, Rungius, Sawyer, and others, 116 photographs, chiefly by 
Sanborn, Keller, and Underwood, and numerous charts and maps. Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1904. Large Svo, xxv + 449 pP- 
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