202 Recent Literature. t April 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW NORTH AMERICAN 

 SPECIES OF ARDETTA. 



BY CHARLES B. CORY. 



Ardetta neoxena, sp. nov. 



Sp. Char. — Top of the head, back, and tail dark greenish black, showing a 

 green gloss when held in the light. Sides of the head and throat 

 rufous chestnut, the feathers on the back of the neck showing 

 greenish black tips. Breast and underparts nearly uniform rufous 

 chestnut, shading into dull black on the sides ; wing-coverts dark 

 rufous chestnut; under wing-coverts paler chestnut. All the remiges 

 entirely slaty plumbeous. Under tail-coverts uniform dull black. 

 Total length, 10.80; wing, 4.30; tarsus, 1.40; culmen, 1.80. 

 Habitat. Florida. Okeechobee region.? 



In the specimen above described two of the flank feathers on 

 one side are white ; l)tit this may l)e attributed to albinism. 

 There is no trace of a stripe on the sides of the back, as in 

 A. exilis. The bird in question is claimed to ha\e been shot in 

 Southwest Florida, and was brought to Tampa with a number 

 of other species, including A. exilis, Anas fiilvigula, and Ajaja 

 ajaja. It is without doul^t perfectly distinct from any other 

 known species. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Grieve on the Great Auk, or Garefowl. — The bird the portrait of 

 which adorns the title-page of 'Tlie x\uk,' lias exercised a remarkable 

 attraction on monographers, for not a year has passed since Pro- 

 fessor Blasius's exhaustive treatment of the subject, before we receive 

 Mr. Grieve's" sumptuous quarto volume on 'The Great Auk. or Garefowl.'* 



In order to give the reader an idea of the scope of this work we give the 

 headings of th^ different chapters into which the book is divided, as fol- 

 lows : I, Introduction ; II. The Distribution of the Great Auk— The living 

 bird in its American Habitats; III, The Living Great Auk in its European 



*The Great Auk, or Garefowl | {^Alca impennis Linn.) \ Its History, Archaeology 

 and Remains | By 1 Symington Grieve | Edinburgh | London | Thomas C. Jack, 45 

 Ludgate Hill | Edinburgh : Grange Publishing Works | 1885. 4to., pp. xii 4- 141 4- 

 App. 58. With 4 plates, several wood-cuts, and a map. 



