Recently published Ornithological Works. 215 



are, we have little doubt, misapplied, such as Laroides occi- 

 dentalis, Ara militaris, Chloronerpes (Bruginosus, Grallaria 

 princeps, none of which are, so far as we know^ Guatemalan 

 birds. M. Boucard describes two supposed new species, 

 Mymotherula nigrorufa and Evgenes viridicejjs, the former of 

 which seems to have been based upon the skin of a young 

 male oi M. menetriesi. 



One thing in this list strikes us as surprising; and that is 

 that M. Boucard in June, or his friends between April 

 and July, obtained over twenty species of birds that only 

 visit Guatemala during the winter months ! Can it be that 

 the former, in this well-trodden field, has followed in the foot- 

 steps of his great countryman Le Vaillant ? 



41. ' Bulktin ' of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 

 [Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, January 1879.] 

 In the January number of our contemporary several contri- 

 butors continue subjects begun in former numbers. In addition 

 to these we find several fresh papers. There is an interesting 

 article by Mr. Brewster on the Terns of the New-England 

 coast, where no less than eleven species occur, more or less re- 

 gularly, either as summer residents or during their spring and 

 autumn migrations. Only four, however, are known to breed 

 along the coast. Mr. S. D. Osborne has a paper on the colora- 

 tion of eggs, in which he shows that the spots on the e^^i of 

 birds of all orders are of one colour in each e^^, and that the 

 variety of tints observable is due to an overlying calcareous 

 coating, and not to a variety of pigments. The experiment 

 is a very simple one — on merely scraping away with a knife 

 the coating overlying the purple or lilac spots, a uniform 

 colour in each egg is found beneath. Mr. G. H. Coues, a 

 nephew of our well-known contributor Dr. Elliott Coues, 

 gives a list of the birds he has observed in the hospital grounds 

 in Brooklyn city, no less than sixty species having come under 

 his notice, a large number to be found in the heart of a great 

 city. A large proportion of these are marked as common, 

 not a few residing to breed. Besides the usual reviews, the 

 general notes contain several records of interest, amongst 



