110 
THE SCIENTIST. 
Exchanges and Reviews. 
Key to North American Birds. Revised 
Edition. By Elliott Couse, A. M., M. D., 
Ph. D., etc., etc. Over 900 p^ges. Near- 
ly 600 illustrations, one full page colored 
frontispiece. Cloth, post paid $7 50. 
University Press: Cambridge, Boston: 
Estes and Lauriat. 
Our limited space will permit o;dy the 
briefest mention of this excellent work. It 
is a monument that will resist the destructive 
greed of Father Time, centuries after all 
memory of the author has passed away. 
Dr. Coues says, "It is well to do great 
things, but better still to be great. After 
carefully reading the "Key" it will 
be evident to every one that the doctor has 
achieved greatness. 
In Ris "Historical Preface" we find a 
history of American Ornithology, con- 
densed and boiled down from its 
chaotic beginning during the sixteenth and 
seventeeath centuries which he calls the Ar- 
chaic Period, through the "Pre-Linnoean" and 
"Post-Linnaean" Epochs of the eighteenth 
century to the "Vieillotian Period" of 1890- 
1808 when comes the "Wilsonian Period" 
which in turn is followed in rapid succession 
by the "Bonapartian Period," the Swain- 
sonian-Richardsonian Period," the "Nut- 
taUian Period" and the eventfuU "Audubon- 
ian Period." This brings us to about the 
middle of the nineteenth century where for 
five years we find the "Cassinian Period." 
Beginning with 1868 he describes the "Bair- 
dian period," closing with: "But here I 
pause. My little sketch is brought upon the 
threshold of contemporaneous history, — to 
the beginning of the Bairdian period, of the 
close of which as of the duration of the 
Bairdian epoch, it is not for me to speak. 
When the splendid achievements of Ameri- 
cans ornithologists during the past quarter of 
a century shall be seen in historical perspec- 
tive; when the brilliant possibilities of our 
near future shall have become the realiza- 
tions of a past; when the glowing names that 
went before shall have fired another genera- 
tion with a noble zeal, a noble purpose, and 
a generous emulation— then, perhaps, the 
thread here dropped, may be recovered by' 
another hand." And when again taken up 
will not the Bairdian Epoch include the 
Couesian Period? 
Part I. is style! ' Field ornithc- 
logy: being a manual of instructions 
for collect ng, preparing and preserving 
birds." This "Field ornithology" was 
"originaly published as a seperate treatise 
in 1874," a copy of which the writer of this 
review secured about that time. We had 
been diligently trying to "stuff" an Oriole, 
with results anything but satisfactory. The 
Opportune arrival of "Field Ornithology" 
filled an "aching void" and subsequent spe- 
cimens were noticeable improvements. Oa 
again examining the pages of this book, now 
slightly amplified and illu;trated and incor- 
porated as a part of the "Key" our "fond 
recollections" rare pleasantly revived and we 
warmly greet an old time friend. May the 
thousands who in the future refer to Part I 
of the "Key" derive as much benefit as we 
did from the old "Field (Ornithology.'' 
Part II is a "General Ornithology" being 
"an outline of the structure and classifica- 
tion of Birds." The first edition of the 
"Key,"" published almost twenty years ago, 
contains an introduction which is here used 
in Part II though materially enlarged. In 
the present shape the author styles it "a sort 
of 'Closet Ornithology,' " which teaches the 
principles of the science of Ornithology, and 
illustrates their application. Following this 
is a very important "Artificial Key to the 
orders and suborders" and a similar ''Key to 
the families." 
Answering as an introduction to the Sy- 
nopsis, we find a "Tabular view of the groups 
higher than genora, adapted in this work 
for the classification of North American 
Birds," and on next page, an "Explanation 
of colored frontis piece," which is a drawing 
showing anotomy of 'a O pigeon prepared 
by Dr. R. W. Schufeldt, U. S. A., from 
nature. 
