Recent Literature. 231 



rious special papers devoted to particular genera, or to the species of spe- 

 cial localities, the literature of the subject is so difficult of access to the 

 general student that Mr. Elliot's concise and comprehensive " Synopsis," * 

 forming No. 31 7 of the " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," forms a 

 most welcome aid to the student of this intricate group. In respect to the 

 classification of the Trocldlidce, Mr. Elliot states that he has not seen his 

 way clear to the recognition of any subfamilies, as has been done by other 

 writers, although he finds the family to contain a certain number of groups 

 of species having more or less relationship. He also considerably reduces 

 the number of genera heretofore more or less commonly recognized, and 

 many of the species of other authors here take the rank of synonymes, and 

 expresses his belief that further information will show this to be the true 

 status of others to which he here accords specific rank. Four hundred 

 and twenty-six species are admitted as valid, distributed among one hun- 

 dred and twenty genera. Three hundred and eight of the species are 

 represented in the author's own collection, which is probablv the largest 

 in existence, and on which the present monograph is based. The leading 

 characters of very nearly all the genera are represented by outline figures 

 of the head, wing, and tail, and the species are described in sufficient de- 

 tail for their easy recognition, the short descriptions being generally re- 

 stricted to distinctive features. The synonymy, the author tells us, he has 

 " not endeavored to make ' exhaustive,' as the term is used now-a-days in 

 many instances," only such works being cited as give " some desirable 

 information regarding the species." Neither are reasons given for the 

 changes in nomenclature adopted, nor for the synonymy presented, but a 

 discussion of many of these determinations may be found in the series of 

 papers published by Mr. Elliot, either alone or in conjunction with Mr. 

 Salvin, in the " Ibis," during the last six or seven years. The only 

 changes we note in the currently accepted names of North American spe- 

 cies are the following : the substitution of the generic name Basilinna 

 (Boie, 1831), for HeUopcedica (Gould, 1861), and of the name henshaioi 

 for the species claimed by Mr. Henshaw to be the true Selasphorus rufus, 

 and the reference of Henshaw's S. alleni to what Mr. Elliot takes to be 

 S. rufus. There is, however, no discussion of the point at issue, nor any 

 allusion to Mr. Henshaw's defence of his interpretation of this peculiar 

 case. (See this Bulletin, Vol. II, pp. 54, 97, Vol. Ill, p. 11.) The work 

 closes with an appendix, giving an analytical key to the genera, and sepa- 

 rate indexes to the generic and specific names adopted, and to all those 

 mentioned in the work. From these it appears that 339 generic and 880 

 specific names have been used by different authors for the birds of this 

 group. 



* A Classification and Synopsis of the Trochilidre. By Daniel Giraud 

 Elliot, F. R. S. E., etc. Washington City : Published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. March, 1879. 4to, pp. xii, 277, figg. 127 (wood-cuts in the text). 



