(Review of) Notes on birds observed in Yucatan, by Frank M. Chapman

(1)

Vol.^XIVJ Recent Literature.

333

the correction of past errors.

As

Prof. Milier,

who

has of course due regard for philological proprieties, well says:

"We may

recognize the law of priority as absolute, and retain the

many

monstrous and mis- spelled

names

tobefound onthe recordsof natural history, just as their makers left them.

They

are historic factsand seryeto

mark

the group of animalsor plantsto which they apply, but thesemisshapen formsof

words

arenotornamental andthey are

unworthy

of scholars. Itisto be hopedthat, in future, greater care

may

be takento

make

wordsthat giye correctlytheidea theauthor

may

haveintended. ... Itcosts no

more

to framea

name

properly thanto leayeit amonstrosity."

—

^J.^A.^A.

Chapman's

Notes

on

Birds Observed in Yucatan.'

—

In the present paper Mr.

Chapman

gives the ornithological results of his short excursion toYucatan, where,inMarch, 1896,he spentabout threeweeks at Chichen-Itza in the study of bird-life. Seventy-four species were observed,a list of which, together with critical notes and remarks on habits,arehere given, precededbyashort sketch of the physical features ofthe regionand the derivationofitsavifauna.

A new

genus,Agriocharis(p. 2SS),is created for the reception of the Ocellated Turkey; and an attempt is

made

to prove the

Guatemalan

Green Jay specificallydistinctfromtheRio

Grande

bird.

With

thelatter

we

areunableto agree.

A

very useful list of the principal contributions to Yucatan birds concludes the paper.

—

C.

W.

R.

'

Upon

the Tree-Tops.'^{^}

—

Students of birdsoutofdoorswill

welcome

a

new volume

byMrs. Miller.

Her

enthusiasticand carefulobservations of the home-life of birds have not onlyaddedto our knowledge of the habitsof species

whose ways we

supposed werewellknown,but theyhave

shown how much

there is in bird-life to interest every stroller in the

woods

and fields. It is the human-like nature of birds that appealsto Mrs. Millerand inwritingfromthispoint ofviewshe bringsbirds nearer to us andarousesa sympatheticinterest in

them

even

among

readers to

whom

her feathered friends arestrangers.

In the present

volume we

have accounts of the Loggerhead Shrike, Winter

Wren,

Yellow-breasted Chat, Ruby-throated

Hummingbird,

and

more

or lessextendedobservations on

numerous

other birds inchapters entitled,

'Tramps

with an Enthusiast,'

'Young America

in Feathers,'

Down

^the^Meadow,'^'In ^a ColoradoNook,'and 'The Idylof an

Empty

'Notes on Birds observedinYucatan.

By

Frank

M.

Chapman. Bulletin of theAmerican

Museum

ofNaturalHistory,VIII,_pp. 271-290, Dec. 11,1896.

'•^

Upon

the Tree-Tops.

By

Olive

Thome

Miller. IllustratedbyJ.Carter Beard. Boston and

New

York: Houghton,Mifflin and Co.

The

Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1S97. i6mo,pp. ^ix^-(-245, pll. x.