2Q2 Recent Literature. [ July 



described under the name Fulica caribcea,* from the Islands of Gua- 

 deloupe and Saint John's. Lesser Antilles 



A new race of the Red-shouldered Hawk, from Florida,! is named 

 Duteo lincatus alleni. It is smaller and paler than B. line at us, with no 

 rufous on the upper parts, except on the lesser wing-coverts. 



A most welcome paper treats of the Sparrows of the coast of California]! 

 usually hitherto called Passerculus anthinus (P. anthinus auct., not of 

 Bonaparte), but which Mr. Ridgway finds includes "two quite different 

 birds." Bonaparte's P. anthinus, based on a specimen from Kodiak, 

 Alaska, is referred as a pure synonym to P. alaudinus Bon., leaving the 

 California birds unnamed. One of these is the very dark colored form 

 confined to the salt marshes about San Francisco, which is here named 

 Passerculus sandwichensis bryanti. The other, inhabiting similar lo- 

 calities from Santa Barbara southward, and still darker and more 

 heavily spotted, is called Passerculus beldingi. 



Mr. Ridgway having had an opportunity of comparing his CEstrelata fish- 

 eri with a specimen of CE. defilippiana% (found labelled in Jules Verreaux's 

 handwriting in the American Museum of Natural History in New York), 

 finds the two species ''very distinct." and gives a detailed comparison of 

 them. 



He also calls attention to geographical variations in Icterus eueu//atus.\\ 

 Yucatan specimens being more intensely colored than those from the 

 southern and eastern parts of Mexico, while examples from Arizona, 

 Southern and Lower California and Western Mexico are decidedly paler 

 in coloration than those from other parts of Mexico. The name cucul- 

 latus having been based on specimens from the table-lands of Southwestern 

 Mexico, Mr. Ridgway names the paler northern form Icterus cucullatus 

 nelsoni, and proposes for the Yucatan bird, in ease "it should be deemed 

 desirable or necessary" to distinguish it, the name Icterus cucullatus ig- 

 neus. 



The same author describes a new species of Contopus^ under the name 

 Contopus pilea t 'us, based on a specimen in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, from an unknown locality. 



He has also found that Auscr leucopareius of Brandt** "is an exact syn- 

 onym of Anser hutchinsi Swain. & Rich.," anil that the leucopareia of re- 



* Description of a New Species of Coot from the West Indies. Ibid., p. 358. 

 (Published Sept. 17, 1884.) 



t Description of a New Race of the Red-shouldered Hawk; from Florida. Ibid., 

 pp. 514, 515. (Published Jan. 19, 1885.) 



X On two hitherto unnamed Sparrows from the Coast of California. Ibid., pp. 

 516-518. (Published Jan. 19,1885.) 



§ On CEstrelata fishcri and CE. defilippiana. by Robert Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., VIII, pp. 17, 18. Published April 20, 1885.) 



|| Icterus cucullatus, Swainson, and its Geographical Variations. Ibid., pp. 18, 19. 



H Description of a new species of Contopus from Tropical America. Ibid., p. 21. 



** Note on the Anser leucopareius of Brandt, /bid., pp. 21, 22. 



