■] Recent Literature. 



369 



given apparently from specimens in the National Museum, collected bv 

 Mr. C. Drexler, mainly at Moose Factory, but some 70 or more rest on 

 the authority of" previous authors, as Audubon. Richardson. Nuttall, 

 Coues, Kumlien, Stearns, and Brewster, including seven recorded only 

 from Anticosti, or other points south of Labrador. The area intended to 

 be covered by the List extends from Anticosti and the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence to Hudson Strait, and from the Atlantic coast westward to the 

 S2d meridian, or a region some six hundred miles in length by about one 

 thousand miles in breadth. It is apparently intended to be a complete 

 list of the birds hitherto observed in Labrador, although the only state- 

 ment to this effect is that implied in the title of the paper. 



Our first criticism relates to what we deem a radical fault in the con- 

 struction of the List, namely, the omission of the author to divide the 

 species into two categories, the first to include only the species observed 

 by him within his own field of investigation about Fort Chimo, the 

 second to consist of the additional species attributed to Labrador by 

 previous explorers. Respecting the species actually collected or observed 

 by the writer, we must confess to a feeling of disappointment that be tells 

 us so little about them, his remarks rarely exceeding a few lines to each, 

 while in many cases more detailed statements would have been of the 

 highest interest. This certainly was not due to any lack of opportunity 

 for observation, for the magnificent collection of material brought back 

 by him to the National Museum testifies alike to his success and great 

 industry in collecting. For instance, it is quite tantalizing to find species 

 like the Redpolls dismissed with less than two lines, merely stating that 

 the species is abundant and resident at Fort Chimo, that it breeds plenti- 

 fully there, and that its nests and eggs were obtained. On the other 

 hand, his record of species observed by others is sufficiently explicit and 

 apparently has been very carefully compiled, although all are obviously 

 not included, as, for instance, Larus canus among the Gulls, and Soma- 

 teria v-nigra among the Ducks. 



Again, it is disappointing to find a writer who has had so much ex- 

 perience as a collector in the country under notice giving these reports 

 and extracts without comment as to their character, in cases even where 

 the temptation to a little intelligent criticism must have been very strong, 

 as, lor instance, where Dendroica ccerulea, Vireo noveboracensis, Pipilo 

 erytkrophlhalmus,, Tyrannus tyr annus, Sayornis phcebe, Contopus vtrens, 

 and the two Cuckoos are given on the authority of Audubon, and Hyloci- 

 chla mustelina and Aix sponsa on Stearns's authority. While we would 

 not imply any sweeping discredit upon the observations of Audubon, we 

 can not help feeling that in writing out his biographies of birds he some- 

 times trusted to memory rather than to carefully recorded field-notes. 

 While thus freely criticising the paper under notice, we do not lose sight 

 of the fact that it is a most important and welcome contribution to our 

 knowledge of the birds of a region Mr. Turner has been the first to ex- 

 plore, and at the cost, too, of a long sojourn in a most inhospitable 

 country, necessarily entailing much hardship. — J. A. A. 



