VOL. I. ] Peecent Literature. 87 
salvadorii, a new genus described by R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL. D., 
F. Z. S., etc., from a specimen collected by Mr. F. J. Jackson, F. 
Z. S., in Eastern Africa; Drepanoplectes jacksoni Sharpe another new 
species in which the male differs remarkably from the female. Syco- 
érotus insignis Sharpe and Heterhyphantes stephanophorus Sharpe 
are figured upon one plate. W. E. B. 
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt contributes Some Comparative Osteo- 
logical Notes on the North American Kites to the April Ibis. In 
critical concluding remarks he arranges the North American kites 
provisionally in the family Milvide with subfamilies /c¢inzine, Ela- 
noidine, Elanine and Rostrhamine (?). 
The plate with the April number of the Auk (vol. viii, No. 2) isa 
wood cut drawn by Mr. Ernest E. Thompson, representing the 
adult male and female and immature male Labrador duck ( Camp- 
tolaimus labradorius). This species, which is probably extinct, is 
treated by Mr. William Dutcher in an article entitled The Labra- 
dor Duck, etc. There are at present thirty-eight recorded speci- 
mens of which twenty-seven are preserved in North American col- 
lections. No examples are known to have been taken since Decem- — 
ber, 1878. 
Descriptions of Seven Supposed New North American Birds, 
by WILLIAM BREWSTER, contains descriptions of eight proposed 
subspecies, as follows: Megascops asio aikeni, Aiken’s Screech 
Owl. Megascops asio macfarlanet, MacFarlane’s Screech Owl. 
Megascops asio saturatus, Puget Sound Screech Owl. Contopus 
richardsonii peninsule, Large-billed Wood Pewee. Ammodramus 
henslowii occidentalis, Western Henslow’s Sparrow. Pépilo macu- 
latus magnirostris, Mountain Towhee. Vireo solitarius lucasanus, 
St. Lucas Solitary Vireo. Siffa carolinensis laguna, St. Lucas 
Nuthatch. W. E. B. 
Observations on the Farallon Rail ( Porzana jamaicensts coturnt- 
culus (Baird). By Rosert RipGway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 
xiii, 1889, 309-311. The present paper gives much important light 
upon the subject of the unique specimen of the Farallon rail and 
shows the possibility of its being identical with Gould’s Zapornia 
_ spilonota from the Galapagos Island, and also shows’ wherein exists 
a doubt, unknown before, that the specimen was taken at the Faral- 
Ww. E. B. 
lones at all. 
