Bibliographical Notices. 195 



Montana ; Psaltiparus santaritce (Ridgway, Proe. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 

 X. p. 697, 18S7), from the Santa Rita Mountains, Southern Arizona ; 

 Psaltiparus LJoycli (Sennett, 'Auk,' v. p. 43, 1888), from the moun- 

 tains of Western Texas, between the Pecos and Rio Grande ; Rcgulus 

 satmpa aztecus (Lawrence in MS.), from the high monntains of 

 Central Mexico ; Polioptila carulea obscura (Ridgway, Proc. tJ. S. 

 Nat. Mus. V. p. 535, footnote, 1883), from California, Arizona, &c., 

 and Western Mexico; Sialia me.vicana iJrnVcZt (Ridgway, 'Auk,' xi. 

 pp. 151-157, 1894), from the Rocky Mountains and south into 

 Northern Mexico ; and Sialia mexicana Anabelce (Anthony, Proc. 

 Cal. Ac. Sci. 2nd ser. ii. p. 79, 1889), from the San Pedro Mountains, 

 Lower California. 



The plates, containing the outline-drawings of the generic cha- 

 racters, are the same as in the first edition, no alteration or addition 

 having been made. Not a little of the nomenclature will scarcely 

 be adopted in Europe, and some of the subspecies appear to be 

 founded on very tritling differences, at least according to our perhaps 

 somewhat old-fashioned views : but the work is one of extreme 

 utility to working ornithologists, and will no doubt bo universally 

 adopted in America as the standard work on the subject. 



A Concise Handhoolc of British Birds. By H. Kirke Swann. 

 London : John Wheldon & Co'., 1896. 



Judging from the number of works that have recently been pub- 

 lished, varying in quality from Lord Lilford's beautifully illustrated 

 ' Coloured Figures of British Birds ' to the work on the Birds of 

 Great Britain in sixpenny parts that is to be seen on almost every 

 railway bookstall, the study of ornithology certainly appears to be 

 on the increase in Great Britain. The last work on the subject that 

 we have received is a handy little manual of British Birds by 

 Mr. H. Kirke Swann, small enough to be carried in the pocket, con- 

 taining short particulars of the habitat, descriptions of the male and 

 female, and notes on the range in Great Britain, and, in the case 

 of the commoner species, a description of the nest and eggs and 

 short particulars of the habits. Of some of the rarer species a short 

 description is given, but of most of these none is vouchsafed, which 

 appears to us to be a mistake, as a short diagnosis to enable a 

 collector to identify any rare straggler that he might obtain would 

 occupy but little space and would add considerably to the utility of 

 the work. Some bad species have been admitted, as, for instance, 

 AntTius rupestris, Parus Dresseri, and Troglodytes Jiirtensis, the two 

 latter of which, by the way, are treated only as subspecies, and 

 several American stragglers, such as Elanoides furcatus, Querquedida 

 discors. and Querquedula carolinensis, are included on very insufficient 

 grounds. The range of Turdus torquatus is given as extending to 

 the south of Europe, whereas in the mountain ranges of southern 



