Recent Oraitholugicnl Publications. 



109 



in the words of the preface, is "a continuation of a systematic 

 account of the vertebrate animals" observed by the different 

 surveying parties, each of which was accompanied by competent 

 collectors, and, " as in the volume on Mammals, by the insertion 

 of the comparatively few species not noticed by the expeditions, 

 becomes an exposition of the present state of our knowledge of 

 the birds of America north of Mexico." The total number of 

 species included as occurring within these limits is 721, being 

 an increase of no less than 210 over the last list published 

 by Audubon in 1844, which shows the energy which the 

 Americans have lately devoted to the working out of their 

 country's fauna. Of each of these species the synonymy is 

 given in a very complete way ; the specific characters are clear, 

 and yet concise ; and, besides an indication of the general geo- 

 graphical range, the precise locality of each individual specimen 

 in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, where the zoo- 

 logical collections made by the different surveying parties were 

 deposited, and in most cases also its measurements, are recorded : 

 so that, on the whole, the work must be pronounced to be 

 very complete, and quite indispensable to any one who pays 

 attention to the ornithology of the New World. 



The following Table gives the number of species included of 

 the different orders, and may be taken as a fair general estimate 

 of the Nearctic Avi-fauna: — 



