1 1 6 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



BAIRUS RE VIE W OF AMERICAN BIRDS. * 



" I "HE standard works of Wilson, Audubon, and Nuttall, on the 

 -*- Ornithology of the United States, have of late years been 

 superseded by the " Birds of North America," of Messrs Baird, 

 Cassin, and Lawrence. This volume, as originally planned, was 

 one of the " Pacific Railway Reports," that is, a report upon the 

 collection of birds amassed by the numerous exploring parties sent 

 out some years ago to investigate the best route for the Great Trans- 

 Continental Railway. But under the able superintendence of its 

 general editor. Professor Baird, who was likewise author of the 

 greater portion of the work, it was expanded so as to embrace an 

 account of all the known species of North American birds, and 

 has become the most recent standard work on the subject. 



Upon this foundation. Professor Baird has commenced the con- 

 struction of the new work, the title of which is above given. At 

 the same time he has rather enlarged its scope, including in his 

 " review " not only the birds of North America, but also all those 

 of the central portion of the New World down to the Isthmus of 

 Panama. Ample materials for this arduous undertaking are found 

 in the daily increasing collections of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 which are under Professor Baird's command, and which are pro- 

 bably unsurpassed for richness and variety as regards the subject 

 proposed to be treated of It should be mentioned that the 

 volume now before us, which contains an account of the first 

 families of the Oscines, does not appear to have been published, 

 but, as stated in the advertisement, has been " distributed by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, in advance of the completion of the whole 

 work, with a view of eliciting criticisms and suggestions." 



As regards systematic characters, not only of the higher groups 

 but also of the genera and species, the present work of Professor 

 Baird goes into much greater detail than his " Birds of North 

 America." The most salient points of distinction of the closely 

 allied genera of Turdida;, and other families of American Oscines, 

 are contrasted in a series of Avell-arranged tables, and the more 

 noticeable parts of their structure fully discussed in the additional 



* Review of American Birds in the Miiseum of the Smitlisonian Institution, 

 by S. F. Baird. Part I. North and Middle America. \'ol. i. Washington. 



