No. 467.) NOTES AND LITERATURE. 849 
the phoebe builds more than one nest, in which case her building 
instinct is apparently not satisfied by the usual exercise, or another 
may be scamped, as when swallows, house martins, or swifts desert 
their young in order to start on their migrations. When one instinct 
has been satisfied, wild birds must obey the next in sequence, which 
seems to possess them with the force of a resistless passion." 
Apart from its interest as literature, the book from a purely scien- 
tific point of view, contains much of value with regard to the habits 
of certain of the species treated. Thus the nighthawk is found to 
feed its young, in one case at least, upon fireflies; the cleaning of 
the nest and removal of excreta is a duty regularly performed by the 
small birds studied; the parents do not attempt to feed each young 
bird in turn impartially, but often thrust food into a nestling's throat 
and withdraw it to try a second or a third young one until a bird 
with the “proper reaction time," z. e, whose swallowing reflex is . 
stimulated, is found. Brooding, or shielding the young from the heat, 
is part of the parents' duty on hot days, and it would be of interest 
to determine if this act is confined to birds that build open nests. 
Domed nests might be expected to dispense with the necessity for 
shielding the young from the sun's heat and possibly this may ex- 
plain their origin. 
The book itself is well printed and profusely illustrated. The 
style is popular but the author has used much judgment in his treat- 
ment of a field which * in the direction of both observation and experi- 
ment is of boundless extent, while on the side of inference it is full 
of pitfalls." The remarkable photographs by which the book is 
illustrated, add largely to its interest and value. E 
Trouessart's Catalogus Mammalium, Supplement, Fasc. p 
The concluding part of this work, the first three fascicles of which 
have already been noticed in these columns (Amer. Nat., vol. 39, pp- 
603-605), lists the known living and fossil Cetacea, Edentata, Marsu- 
pialia, Allotheria, and Monotremata, and brings the total of known 
mammalian species up to 9381, an increase of 2157 over the b sri 
listed in the Catalogus of 1897-99. Among the Cetacea the iem 
need for revisionary work is apparent and many of the species e 
doubtless be found to be merely nominal when more material can 
lTrouessart, E. L. Catalogus Mammalium tam Viventium n mn 
Quinquennale Supplementum (1899—1904). Fasc. 4. Berlin, R. Frie 
Sohn, 1905. 8vo, pp. i-vii, 753-929. 8 Marks. 
