Recent Literature. 139 



has been seen in North Adams, in August, with young so immature tha 

 they must have been of local origin ; Mxjiodioctes canadensis breeds every 

 summer in Essex County, the writer bavin.; two sets of their eggs taken 

 in Lynn, and of course the omission of the * from Colaptcs auratus was an 

 accident. Without wishing in the least to criticise this list of one hundred 

 and thirty-five species, would it not be well, if any of these instances given 

 are inferred, rather than known, to designate all such by a distinguishing 

 mark ? And where it is positively known that such species as Tardus 

 pallasi, Mimus polyglottxis, Certhia familiaris, Dendroeca casrulescens, etc. 

 have bred within the State, to mention when and where, as is done in the 

 case of J unco hyemalis ? The list of Massachusetts species supposed to be 

 extirpated is one of almost painful interest, and one we fear to be ere-long 

 materially increased. Specimens of the Wild Turkey have been taken 

 in Franklin County as late as 1842, but railroads have since completed 

 their extinction. 



The third list, of probable occurrences, is also a very interesting one, 

 but in regard to several species rests so entirely on mere speculation as 

 to be suggestive of a conflict of opinions as to the ground of this proba- 

 bility. What, for instance, can be suggested as circumstances likely to 

 bring Saxicola amanthe to Massachusetts '? It is of rare occurrence in 

 Labrador, and there only breeds in the extreme northeastern corner. Its 

 migrations are either by way of the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland, or 

 directly across the ocean to South Greenland.* Guiraca ccerulea and Pro- 

 tonotaria citrea are supposed to approach Eastern Maine from the northwest 

 by a circuitous route, entirely avoiding Southern New England, which, if 

 correctly inferred, does not favor either ever visiting us, though after what 

 has happened it ill becomes one to even seem to prophesy as to what may 

 not occur ! Yet the occurrence of JEgialitis wilsonia in Massachusetts is 

 another, in the writer's opinion, not to be anticipated. 



Three names are given in a list of very doubtful species. One of these, 

 the Small-headed Flycatcher, whatever it may have been, was probably 

 not a Mxjiodioctes. Dr. Pickering's recollections of the individual captured 

 by him in Wenham, and identified by Nuttall, were suggestive of a very 

 small true Flycatcher, and so long as grave doubt exists as to this form, 

 and no type has been preserved, its claim to a full acceptance is inadmissible. 



Six birds are classed as introduced species, and ninety others are named 

 as extremely rare or occasional visitors. This number, it is possible, will 

 be largely increased through the larger numbers of observers on the look- 

 out for them, and will always contain an indefinite number of names the 

 conditions of whose presence must eA T er remain an unexplained enigma . 

 In the spring of 1877 a fine fresh specimen of Cyanospiza ciris flew into 



[* Its capture near Quebec, Canada, and on Long Island, N. Y., and its 

 somewhat frequent occurrence in the Bermudas, might be considered in this 

 connection. (See Baird's Review of American Birds, 1864, p. 61.) — J. A. A.] 



