Recent Literature. 81 



a good species. It also embraces specimens of the rare Ruhr's Parrot 

 (Coriphilus kuhli) of the Fanning Islands, the precise habitat of which is 

 now for the first time determined, and three new species, one of which, 

 Puffinus (Xectris) nativitatis, from Christmas Island, is here for the first 

 time described. The others are a Gallimde (GaUinula sandvicensis, Streets? 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 25) from the Hawaiian Islands, and a Duck (Chaulelasmus 

 couesi, Streets, Bull. Nut. Orn. Club, Vol. I, 1876, p. 46) from Washing- 

 ton Island. The breeding habits and eggs of Craver's Auk (Brachyrham- 

 phus eraveri) arc- also described, and there are many valuable biographical 

 and other notes on several hitherto little known species. — J. A. A. 



Bendire's Notes on the Birds of Southeastern Oregon. — In a 

 list embracing one hundred and ninety-one species and varieties, Captain 

 Bendire * gives the results of field observations made in the vicinity of 

 Camp Harney, Oregon, covering a considerable period. Aside from some 

 former notes by the same author, \ which treated moi'e especially of the 

 winter birds of this locality, we have here our first detailed information 

 respecting the ornithology of the immediate region under consideration. 

 Camp Harney, the central point, is situated on the southern slope of one of 

 the western spurs of the Blue Mountains, and has an altitude of about 

 four thousand eight hundred feet. The country to the northward is moun- 

 tainous, and well forested with pine, spruces, and fir, intermixed with 

 groves of aspen and juniper ; in all other directions it is open, consisting 

 of desert wastes of sagebrush and greasewood, with here and there more 

 fertile tracts covered with nutritious grasses. As would be naturally ex- 

 pected, fully one half of the species are emphatically Western, or are 

 represented by Western varieties. The fauna is distinctly, however, that 

 of the Middle Province, although a few forms usually considered as con- 

 fined to the Pacific slope are here represented. The list is enriched with 

 copious biographical notes, including descriptions of the breeding-habits, 

 nests, and eggs of a large number of the less well-known species, and 

 forms a most important contribution to the ornithology of the West. — 

 J. A. A. 



Ridgwat's Report on the Ornithology of the Fortieth Par- 

 allel. — This long-delayed work % has by no means lost its importance 



* Notes on some of the Birds found in Southeastern Oregon, particularly in 

 the Vicinity of Camp Harney, from November, 1874, to January, 1877. By 

 Captain Charles Bendire, U. S. Army. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 

 XIX, pp. 109-149, Nov. 1877. 



t Notes on Seventy-nine Species of Birds observed in the Neighborhood of 

 Camp Harney, Oregon, compiled [by Dr. T. M. Brewer] from the Correspond- 

 ence of Captain Charles Bendire, 1st Cavalry U. S. A. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. XVIII, pp. 153-168, Nov. 1875. 



t Report of Geological Explorations of the Fortieth Parallel. Clarence King, 



VOL. III. 6 



