, however, are subordinate points, and there is no important matter
in which we have seen any reason to impugn the author's accuracy.

The inequality which marks the internal execution of this book marks
also its externals. The plates of eggs--four in number, comprising
thirty eggs--are admirable; while the plates representing birds are Of
the most mediocre description, and do discredit to the work. With all
these merits and demerits, the book is of much value, because an
unsatisfactory manual is far better than none. It does not take the
place of that revised edition of Nuttall, which is still the great
desideratum, but we may use meanwhile an eminently ornithological
proverb, and say that a Samuels in the hand is worth two Nuttalls in the
bush.

_Richmond during the War. Four Years of Personal Observation_.
By a Richmond Lady. New York: G. W. Carleton and Company.

Mr. Curtis, in his charming book, "Prue and I," speaks of the novel
effect of landscape which Mr. Titbottom got by putting down his head,
and regarding the prospect between his knees; and we suppose that most
ingenious boys, young and old, have similarly contemplated nature, and
will understand what we mean when we say that the world shows to much
the same advantage through the books of Southern writers. Especially in
Southern histories of the late war is the effect noticeable. The general
outline is the same as when viewed in the more conventional manner, with
ideas and principles right side up; the objects are the same, the events
and results are the same; but there is a curious glamour over all, and
the spectator has a mystical feeling of topsy-turvy, ending in vertigo
and a disordered stomach.

The present book is in the spirit of all other subjugated literature
concerning the war,--a vainglorious and boastful spirit as to events
that led only to the destruction of the political power of the South; a
wronged and forgiving, if not quite cheerful, spirit as to the end
itself. Vivid and powerful presentation of facts would not perhaps be
expected of an author who calls herself "A Richmond Lady," and there is
nothing of the sort in the book. It contains sketches of public Rebels
in civil and military station, washed in with the raw yellows, reds, and
blues of Southern eulogy; and there is a great deal of gossip concerning
private life in Richmond, where everybody appears to have spoken and
acted during the four years of the war as if in the p