When the vibration ceased the performance was repeated and continued at intervals until I was obliged to drive by and frighten the bird away.—Dr. D. L. Burnett, South Royalton, Vt.
An Ornithologist at San Juan
An English newspaper correspondent, who called at the American Museum of Natural History to identify certain birds which he had seen in Cuba, gave an interesting illustration of how, under the most adverse circumstances, an enthusiastic naturalist may exercise his powers of observation. He said, "I noticed at San Juan a bird which seemed to be much alarmed by the firing. He hopped from the bushes to the lower branches of trees, and then, limb by limb, reached the tree tops," and continued with a readily identifiable description of the singular Cuban Cuckoo, locally known as Arriero (Saurothera merlini).
There is one bird in Cuba, the Turkey Buzzard or Vulture, of which many of our soldiers probably retain a too vivid recollection, but how many of the men who were at San Juan can recall any other bird observed during the day of battle?
Sketch Book of British Birds. by R. Bowdler Sharpe, L. L. D., F. L. S. With Colored Illustrations by A. F. and C. Lydon, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, New York, E. & J. B. Young & Co. 4to. Pages xx + 255. Numerous colored illustrations. Price, $6.
Although more books have been written about British birds than on the birds of any other region, and although Dr. Sharpe has written more bird books than any other living ornithologist, this we believe is the first treatise he has produced on the birds of his native land. He explains that the text is only a "running commentary" on the pictures, but claims that his "Systematic Index" is "the most complete record of the birds in the 'British List' yet published." It enumerates 445 species of birds which, according to Dr. Sharpe, have been recorded from Great Britain. In his 'Introduction' he classifies these according to the manner of their occurrence, as follows: Species which have probably escaped from confinement, 14; Indigenous species, 138; Visitors from the South—regular, 70, occasional or accidental, 69; Visitors from the East—regular, 5, accidental or occasional, 38; Visitors from the North—regular, 35, occasional or accidental, 29; Visitors from the West—regular 1, occasional, 43. The latter are all American species, and the number recorded indicates how much more frequently our birds are found on the other side of the Atlantic than European birds are observed here.
The illustrations consist of colored vignettes in the text of nearly every species. They are not above criticism, but, on the whole, are excellent and form a far more certain and convenient aid to identification than the most detailed description or elaborate key. In many cases even American species of accidental occurrence are figured, and, in this connection, we are tempted to ask why British authors cannot use for our birds the names by which they are known in this country? Who would recognize the Rusty Blackbird under the name of the "Rusty Black Hang-Nest," a misnomer in every sense of the word, or our Robin as the "American Thrush," to cite two among numerous examples.