Recently published Ornithological Works. 221 



49. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway on the Water-Birds of 

 North America. 



[Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 

 Vol. xiii. The Water-Birds of North America. By S. F. Baird, T. M. 

 Brewer, and R. Ridgway. Vol. II. 4to. Boston : 1884.] 



The concluding volume of this important work contains 

 the remainder of the Ducks ; the Steganopodes, including 

 Phaeton ; the Skimmers^ Gulls, Terns, and Skuas, an order 

 of sequence which passes our comprehension; followed by 

 the Tubinares, and ending with the Pygopodes. Of the 

 general style of execution it is impossible to speak in 

 other than terms of praise ; and as regards the thoroughly 

 American species, the latest available information will, as a 

 rule, be found. In their references to Old- World authori- 

 ties the writers are not unfrequently at a disadvantage, from 

 not being aware of the relative trustworthiness, or the re- 

 verse, of their sources of information ; and there is a ten- 

 dency to accept as gospel statements that have been shown 

 to be incorrect. We cannot speak of Col. Grayson^s speci- 

 mens of the " Little Gull " from Mazatlan, not having seen 

 them, although we do not for a moment suppose that they 

 really belong to our Larus minutus ; but as regards the re- 

 ported occurrence of this species in the Arctic regions, it is 

 well known and has been conclusively proved that the bird so 

 named by Richardson was Bonaparte^s Gull {L. Philadelphia) , 

 as were also the birds shot at Bermuda by Major W edderburn. 

 Nor can a work of this magnitude, and by more than one 

 author, be expected to be free from minor errors and mis- 

 prints ; but on the whole they are comparatively few, and 

 do not materially detract from the merit of the harmonious 

 whole. 



50. Berlepsch on the Birds of Bucaramanga. 



[Untersuchungen liber die Vogel der Umgegend von Bucaramanga in 

 Neu-Granada. Von Hans von Berlepsch. J. f. 0. 1884, p. 273.] 



This carefully-prepared memoir is based principally upon 

 collections received by the Llibeck and Bremen Museums 



