64 Recent Literature. [January 



National Museum, treats of the Woodpeckers,* of which ten species are 

 recognized, and also one subspecies, the latter and two of the species being 

 described as new. Questions of synonymy are treated in detail, and the 

 references to previous writers on the species appear to be given with ful- 

 ness. The paper is accompanied by a colored plate. 



As Dr. Stejneger points out in his introductory remarks, the ornithol- 

 ogy of Japan offers an inviting field, in which very little discriminating 

 work has yet been done. "Formerly," says Dr. Stejneger, "it was suffi- 

 cient to know that a bird was from 'Japan.' If the description of a 

 Japanese species was found to fit a Japanese specimen approximately, the 

 latter was identified as that species without further comparison. If the 

 original specimen was described from Nagasaki, and the second one, be- 

 lieved to be the same, came from North Yesso, the habitat of the species 

 was given as embracing the whole of Japan." Our knowledge of Japanese 

 ornithology is at present only fragmentary, large portions of this great 

 country being as yet almost unexplored, while some of it "is a complete 

 terra i?icognita, ornithologicallv speaking." "American ornithologists," 

 Dr. Stejneger well observes, "will not wonder at hearing that species apt to 

 break up into local forms have done so in a group of islands which in ex- 

 tent corresponds to the coast from the Gulf of California to Vancouver 

 Island, or from the southern extremity of Florida to Nova Scotia, with a 

 variation of climate fully as great as that of the two last mentioned locali- 

 ties: with high mountain ranges, and studded with volcanoes eight thou- 

 sand to twelve thousand feet high ; with a vegetation .... characterized in 

 the south by the bamboo, the rice, the mulberry tree, and the tea-plant, 

 while in the north the firs form extensive forests, and with 'a temperature 

 ranging from the almost Siberian winters of Yesso, to the tropical heats 

 of Kiu-Shin,' it would indeed be an extraordinary phenomenon, and quite 

 reverse to what takes place in other countries of similarly varying condi- 

 tions, were the birds of Japan uniform all through that empire." 



The present paper is announced as the first of a series of "preliminary 

 reviews of some of the most perplexing groups in order to solicit speci- 

 mens and advice from fellow ornithologists, and to induce those who have 

 the opportunity to attempt the solution of some of the questions, if possi- 

 ble, in the field." As already stated (Auk, III, p. 495), the author has the 

 "intention to write a comprehensive and reliable guide to Japanese orni- 

 thology, with, ample descriptions of all the known forms, from original 

 Japanese specimens," and he appeals for aid in the way of material for 

 carrying out his purpose. — J. A. A. 



Stejneger on the British Marsh-Tit. — Dr. Stejneger has separated! the 

 British Marsh-Tit, under the name Partes falustris dresseri, from the 

 European form, from which it differs in being darker in color, with a shorter 



* Review of Japanese Birds. By Leonhard Stejneger. I. The Woodpeckers. 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. VIII, pp. 99-124, pi. ii. Published Sept., 1886. 



fThe British Marsh-Tit. By Leonhard Stejneger. Proc. U.S.Nat. Mus., 1866, pp. 

 200, 201. 



