Recent Literature. 57 



dins the occurrence of the Blue-winged Yellow Warbler and the Clapper 

 Rail in New England would be entered here. 



Having explained the scope of this piece of bibliography, we may now 

 turn to its general character. On this point we will let the author explain. 

 " There is little to be said," he says, " of the way in which the work has 

 been done; for if it cannot speak for itself, the less said the better. It 

 should be stated, however, that the compiler has habitually regarded The 

 Title as a thing no more to be mutilated than a man's name; and that 

 he has taken the utmost pains to secure transcription of titles verbatim, 

 literatim, el punctuatim. It may be added that, excepting in certain speci- 

 fied cases, no title in this Bibliorprtph)/ has been taken at second hand." The 

 titles are generally followed by remarks, explanatory rather than critical, 

 but in certain cases tersely stating the merits or demerits of the work to 

 which they refer. A short resume' is given of all the more general and 

 important works, with a list of the species or genera newly described, 

 named, or figured in them. The titles are presented in chronological order, 

 with a secondary alphabetized arrangement under each year. Facility of 

 reference, however, is afforded by means of duplicate indexes, the first 

 relating to authors and the second to localities. The indexes, besides af- 

 fording ready access to any title, are really secondary bibliographies, show- 

 ing at a glance, first, a list of the papers referred to in the bibliography 

 any author has published, and secondly, a complete list of the papers that 

 relate to particular geographical areas, the two indexes alone occupying 

 nearly forty pages. 



In point of completeness, mode of execution, and general usefulness, the 

 bibliography here under notice far excels any natural history bibliography 

 known to us, and deseiwes to rank with the best bibliographies of any de- 

 partment of literature, and may well serve as a model for future workers 

 in similar fields. While we regret that it does not cover quite the whole 

 field of North American Ornithology, ornithologists cannot be too deeply 

 grateful to Dr. Coues for erecting so elaborate a guide-board to the litera- 

 ture of the subject. We shall certainly await with impatience the comple- 

 tion of the arduous task he has so resolutely and energetically undertaken, 

 and trust that finally his general "Bibliography of Ornithology "will be sup- 

 plemented by a special and complete bibliography for the Ornithology of 

 North America, — though this may be unnecessary to any one having 

 access to the general work, which we understand is already about half 

 compiled. 



As regards the general work, or the " Birds of the Colorado Valley " as a 

 whole, no more important contribution to the subject of North American 

 Ornithology than this promises to be has for a long time appeared, and 

 none covering all points of the field here taken ; and the speedy publica- 

 tion of the remaining parts of the work must be looked for with equal 

 eagerness both by specialists and those who simply love and admire birds, 

 and can appreciate a pleasant rehearsal of the habits and traits that render 

 them objects of such universal interest. — J. A. A. 



