Recent Ornithological Publications. 127 



and inaccessible regions. Nevertheless the pertinacity with 

 which some birds hold their ground is surprising. Thus the 

 common Partridge^ though so continually persecuted by sports- 

 men, is still very numerous even in the immediate vicinity of 

 the city. A total change of habit by civilization, sometimes to 

 be observed, is extremely interesting. There can be no doubt 

 that, before the settlement of the country, the Ch(Btura jielasgia 

 bred in hollow trees. This habit is now totally lost, the bird 

 finding chimneys better suited to its wants. In like manner, 

 the Hirundo horreorum now breeds altogether on the rafters and 

 beams of barns and outhouses, while the H. lunifrons is gradually 

 abandoning the sides of cliffs for the convenient situations af- 

 forded by the projecting eaves of buildings. The Progne pur- 

 purea always gives preference to the boxes now everywhere 

 placed for its accommodation.'^ 



In a new paper in the Philadelphian Academy's Proceedings* 

 Mr. Coues completes his review of the North American Laridte, 

 treating of the third section of the Skuas, but embracing in his 

 remarks, on this occasion, all the known species of the group. 

 As in the case of former papers, Mr. Coues adopts ante-Linnean 

 names for both genera and species, and thereby seeks to intro- 

 duce what we consider objectionable changes into their nomen- 

 clature. Mr. Coues divides the Skuas into two genera, for the 

 first of which, containing the Larus catarractes of Linnaeus, and 

 its (barely separable) southern representative, Stercorarius ant- 

 arcticus, he uses Mcehring's term Buphagus[\) ; for the second, 

 Stercorarius of Brisson. Of the latter group six species are 

 enumerated, viz., 



1. S. pomarinus (Temm.) ex Eur. et Am. Sept. 



2. S. parasiticus (Linn.) ex Eur. et Am. Sept. 



3. S. 7'ichardsoni (Sw.) ex Am. Arct. 



4. S. hardyi (Bp.) ex oc. Pacif. (?) 



5. S. spinicauda (Bp.) ex oc. Atlant. (?) 



6. S. buffoni (Boie) ex Eur. et Am. Sept. 

 Sterco7'arius richardsoni, we may remark, has been usually con- 



* Proc. Acad. Philad. 1863, p. 121, "On the Lestris richardsoni of 

 Swainson, with a critical review of the subfamily Lestridince.^' 



