li IK DC RAFT. 
35 
and tell its the length and colours of the birds, what sort of song or note they 
possess (this is omitted in some cases), the season at which they are to be seen 
(the aulhor lives in Southern Connecticut), their breeding range, the materials of 
their nests, the colours and numbers of their eggs, and their range in the world. 
A general and often very pleasing account of the life habits — varying considerably 
in length— is appended in each case, and should prove both useful and interesting 
to anyone taking up the study of held ornithology in New England. The two 
hundred species chosen for description from the A.O. U. list of over nine hundre<l 
species of North American birds are for the most part .selected as being those 
which will be the most likely to interest bird lovers living itt the temperate parts 
of the ewintry. But the most notable feature in the book is the attempt (which 
seems to us very likely to be a successful one) to enable the student to learn the 
names of the birds he meets with by the aid of a key. Scientific ornithologists 
are familiar with keys adapted to the study of museum skins, but as far as we are 
aware this is the first instance in which a key in po|)ular form has been pre]>ared 
and adapted for the use of the field ornithologist who does not shoot birds, and 
we should be glad to see .such an idea carried out in reference to the birds of this 
country. Miss Wright, in the first place, divides her birds into three great 
divisions, viz., land birds, birds of prey and game, shore and water birds. 'I'he.se 
again are subdivided so far as it is nece.s,sary to do so. We may take the first 
division as an example. This section is divided into. A, birds consiucuously red 
or orange ; B, birds conspicuously blue ; C, birds consi>icuously yellow ; D, birds 
conspicuously black, dusky, or dark grey ; E, brown or brow nish birds, of various 
sizes and markings ; F, daintily plumed .small birds feeding about the branches 
and terminal shoots of trees ; (I, the creeping birds of various sizes, seen upon the 
trunks and branches, feeding uix>n bark insects ; II, winter birds of meadow s anti 
uplands : I, birds of the air, constantly on the wing, feeding as they fly. 
It is pretty certain that the .student who follows the authoress’s directions, and 
having read the synopsis of the bird families in order to gain an idea of their 
grouping, goes carefully through the key with the jrarticulars of the birds he has 
seen (jotted down at the time in his note book) before him, will have a very good 
chance of naming the particular si)ecies he has met with. 
There is a good deal of very interesting matter in the introductory chapters. 
In one the songs of many of the birds are very pleasingly put into syllables. We 
are sorry that we have not the advantage of an acquaintance with North American 
species in life, and so cannot say whether these songs in words convey a clear 
and accurate impression of the birds’ notes or not. But they certainly give one 
the impression of truth, and the wording of the strain sung by the common song 
sparrow (“Maids, maids, maids, put your ketlle-ettle on”), reminds us very 
strongly of the chant of another song-sparrow which we knew well in South 
America. Many curious and beautiful nests are built by the birds of the Eastern 
States, and a good many of these are described, not only in the biographies, but 
also in the chapter on “ The Building of the Nest.” The authoress quotes some 
amusingly descriptive remarks of a farmer upon nests in general. He disparag- 
ingly includes “ humbirds” among those species which do not make any “ regMar 
sort o’ nests,” and anyone who has ever found the nest of a humming bird will 
especially appreciate this worthy’s descriptive powers when he goes on to say that 
these birds “jest sets down right wherever they see a round o’ moss on a branch, 
and the warmth o’ them makes the moss grow up a bit, but I don’t call that a 
nest.” 
We are not surprised to find that the authoress regards the English house 
sparrow as an enemy of the song birds and loves it not ; but if perchance these 
lines should catch her eye, we would, in the name of the Selbcrne Society, pray 
her most earnestly not to give poisoned corn (p. 29) even to the hungry' crows in 
snow-time, lest in killing a few of these “ cannibals,” indiscriminate slaughter 
should be brought about. 
There are from seven to nineteen figures of birds on each plate, adapted and 
grouped from the works of Audubon, Dr. Warren, De Kay, and from ilr. J. L. 
Ridgway’s illustrations to Dr. Fisher’s Hawks and Owls of the United States. 
They are naturally, therefore, of very unequal merit. Those taken from the last- 
named work are incomparably the best, although the colours in these two plates 
have not been reproduced. For the rest we can only say that they will be useful 
