IOWA BIRD LIFE— XL 11)41 
s similar to the eastern book, with notes on size, color, range, and 
seasonal plumages; certain characteristics of voice, behavior, Right and 
other details not transferable to plate illustration are also described. 
The typography is excellent, with sufficient use of bold- face type for 
species names and sub-heads to insure easy reference as the reader 
skims the pages. There is a list of books for reference and a full index. 
The problem of subspecies, particularly complex in the western states, 
is well handled by the author. Where the subspecies is identifiable in 
the field, it Is given full treatment in the body of the book. Where its 
validity as a subspecies rests on minute characters which can be noted 
only by a specimen in the hand of an expert, it is listed in a special 
section in the back of the book; in this section the various subspecific 
forms are listed under the species name with the geographical range 
given for each. To many of us in the non-professional class it seems 
that subspecies are often given undue prominence. Some bird journals 
name every bird with a trinomial whether that particular subspecies 
can be identified in the field or not. It is our editorial opinion that 
subspecies have but small place in field ornithology, because so few 
of them can be definitely identified in the field. It seems foolish to pre- 
sume that a bird is a certain subspecies merely because it is found 
within the geographical limits of the range of that subspecies. Mr. 
Peterson’s handling of this matter seems to us to be very sane and 
appropriate. — F. J. P, 
* * * • m 
TRAIL OF AX ARTIST-NATURALIST: The Autobiography of 
Ernest Thompson Seton (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York City, 1041; 
cloth, pp. i-xii + 1-412, with :jl halftone plates and numerous sketches; 
price, $3.75). 
For many years the reviewer has felt that he owes a debt of grati- 
tude to Ernest Thompson Seton. It was his book, ‘Two Little Savages’, 
that kindled my interest in birds and nature and furnished the original 
incentive for an avocation that has been followed a quarter-century 
nd has furnished me with countless hours of pleasure. Perhaps this 
interest would have been aroused in some other way; but the fact re- 
mains that 'Two Little Savages’ is one of the best books for boys ever 
written, and doubtless Mr. Seton deserves all the credit. A copy of 
‘Two Little Savages’ received by me as a Christmas gift in 1915 was 
read with avidity, and soon a tribe of "Blazing Arrow Indians” was 
organized among the boys of the neighborhood, while a study of birds 
and many of the other activities of the boy characters in the book 
followed in due course. Dr. Roberts, former President of the Iowa 
Ornithologists' Union, also received his inspiration to study birds from 
reading ‘Two Little Savages' in boyhood. How many other boys have 
been thus influenced during the long career of this one book by Seton 
can only be conjectured, but the total is no doubt a large one. 
Mr. Seton is now 81 years old, and this autobiography rounds out a 
long series of nature books the first of which appeared in 1898. His 
ife span has been filled with experiences of great variety. He had 
'^ventures with wild creatures in many places in North America, and 
hese in a day when the country was an unsettled wilderness with wild 
life at the peak of its abundance. A master narrator and descriptive 
writer, Mr. Seton uses a deft hand and his story moves along swiftly 
without a dull page in the entire large book. 
He was born in England in 1860, the twelfth of a family of 14 
children. In 1866 the family moved to Canada, settling on a farm in 
Ontario. After four years on a farm beside the big woods, they moved 
to Toronto where young Seton’s education in a rough city school became 
turbulent but interesting. His contact with nature at this neriod was 
gained with difficulty, but his urge to study wild life was so firmly fixed 
it could not be thwarted. Many of his early experiences are the same 
as those he gave to Y'an in ‘Two Little Savages’ — the daily passing of 
