ZOOLOGY. 57 
species of Neotropical genera, and (3) as being the focus of the families Procyonide 
and Geomyide, two well marked groups of Mammals which have extended alike 
into the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions.” 
The twenty-two coloured plates include figures of thirty-four species, a list of which 
is given on p. Xx. 
3-6. Aves: by O. Salvin and F. D. Godman: Vols. I-III. (text), III. completed 
with the assistance of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant ; 
IV. (plates). 
Three Volumes are required for the enumeration and description of the 1413 species 
of Aves belonging to the Central American fauna, and a fourth for the 84 plates. 
Vol. I., published in 1879-1887, gives an account of a portion of the Passeres, the 
families Turdide to Alaudide; and, on the conclusion of the work, in 1904, an 
Introduction to the whole subject was issued, with Tables (pp. xi-xxxvili) showing the 
geographical distribution of the families and species represented in Mexico and Central 
America. Vol. II., published in 1888-1897 *, includes the continuation of the Passeres 
and the whole of the Macrochires, Pici, Coccyges, and Psittaci. Vol. III., published 
in 1897-1904, includes the Striges, Accipitres, Steganopodes, Herodiones, Phoenicopteri, 
Anseres, Columbe, Galline, Geranomorphe, Limicole, Gavi, Tubinares, Pygopodes, 
Alce, and Crypturi. Vol. IV. contains the whole of the Plates and a complete list of 
the 149 species figured. Salvin’s long continued. ill health, and sudden death in 1898, 
retarded the conclusion of the Third Volume, and this was subsequently finished with 
the assistance of Dr. Sharpe and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant. For this reason, too, all idea of 
a Supplement was abandoned, notwithstanding the large amount of additional material 
which had come to hand during the progress of the work. The additions, however, 
were mainly amongst the Passeres, completed in 1892. The Introduction to Vol. 1. 
(1904) contains an account of the authors’ various expeditions to Central America, 
the sources from whence their material was obtained, &c., and the following par- 
ticulars as to the nature of the Bird-fauna of the region :—To summarize the results, 
the Avifauna of Central America may be described as essentially Neotropical, with 
certain peculiar forms restricted to it. The fifteen families represented are all rich in 
endemic forms, and the families themselves are almost all tropical. On the other 
hand, a large number of species belonging to the more widely distributed genera find 
their winter home in Mexico and Central America, or further south, returning to 
breed in the Nearctic Region, even Humming-birds and others wandering far north at 
this season. The data is insufficient to show the lines of migration of all the species. 
Some, no doubt, travel southward from the United States to the mainland of South 
America by way of the Caribbean Sea or the West Indian Islands, perhaps just 
* The permanent Titlepage and ‘ Contents’ were issued in 1904. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Introd. Vol., January 1915. I 
