i887-] Recent Literature. %\1 



by the author irrespective of their place in the system. On the other 

 hand, the arrangement is convenient to those who only want to purchase 

 some of the monographs, as each fascicule is sold separately. 



In our days of systematic uncertainty it is perhaps not to be wondered 

 at that Mr. Olphe-Galliard still in the main adheres to the "natural 

 system" which he proposed just thirty years ago, in pre-Darwinian times. 

 It commences with the swimmers, runs through waders, birds of prey, 

 Scansores, and Passeres, to Pigeons and game birds, and ends with the 

 Ostriches, the object being to establish a lineal system which would 

 represent the birds as forming a continuous chain between the "lower 

 vetebrates" and the mammals. 



American ornithologists will note with satisfaction that Mr. Olphe- 

 Galliard has selected the year 175S for his starting point in regard to the 

 nomenclature, and that he declares for a strict adherance to the law of 

 priority. We remark, however, that he adopts generic names previously 

 applied in another class of animals, a course opposite to most previous 

 codes of nomenclature, and also to Canon XXXIII, A. O. U. Code. Nor 

 is the law of priority always respected as it ought to be. For instance, 

 he accepts Clivicola of Forster as the older name, but refuses to recognize 

 the same author's genera Hirundo and Chelidon, though their status in 

 regard to Boie's subsequent appellations is exactly the same as that of 

 Clivicola. 



Want of space prevents us from entering into a detailed review, which 

 may be reserved until the whole work is concluded. That the latest 

 sources have not always been accessible to the author is hardly to be 

 criticized when we know that the work has been prepared in a small pro- 

 vincial town far from the great libraries and museums. On the other 

 hand, it is but just to mention that the author's great familiarity with 

 foreign languages and literature is shown to great advantage throughout 

 the book, and is the more to be appreciated since it is of so rare occurrence 

 among the French ornithologists. 



France has contributed very little to European ornithology during re- 

 cent years, and the present work is really the only larger contribution 

 since the publication of Degland and Gerbe's 'Ornithologie Europeenne' 

 twenty years ago. 



The present work appears to be published entirely at the expense of the 

 author, and its completion, therefore, depends upon the encouragement of 

 the ornithological public expressed in numerous subscriptions, of which 

 there ought to be no lack, as the price is very reasonable. The following 

 fascicules have come to hand : I, Brevipennes (1SS4) ; V, Cygnidie, and 

 XXXIII, Ploceidie (genus Passer!) (1885)5 XXXVII-XL, Gallime, and 

 Cursores (1SS6) ; XXII, Brevipedes (1887).— L. S. 



Minor Ornithological Publications. — 'Forest and Stream,' Vols. XXVI 

 and XXVII, contains the following (Nos. 1127-1199) : — 



1 127. Winter Snipe in Colorado. By R. V. R. S. Forest and Stream, 

 Vol. XXVI, No. 1, Jan. 26, 1SS6, p. 5. — Wilson's Snipe reported as occur- 

 ring about warm spring holes in the coldest winter weather. 



