Recent Liiercitun 



401 



Society.' These felicitous titles indicate the character of the sketches, 

 which are based on personal experience and observations. 



The present little volume forms a fitting addition to its publishers' pre- 

 vious trio of bird-books, namely, Torrey's 'Birds in the Bush,' and Bur- 

 roughs's 'Wake Robin' and 'Birds and Poets.' either of which it easily 

 rivals in interest and licerarv merit. — J. A. A. 



The 'Water Birds of North America' — Explanations. — In the April 

 number of "The Auk,' III, p. 266, Mr. Ridgway has undertaken to "rectify'' 

 some of my corrections of the above work made in the January number 

 (III. p. 134), and asks for certain explanations. It is unfortunate that 

 remarks intended by me to be complimentary, and purely for the advance- 

 ment of the science, should be so misconstrued as to lead to discourteous 

 and almost personal criticism ; but while disavowing the least intention 

 to be unjust to the authors and compilers, I must insist on the right to 

 give facts, e\'en if contrary to their statements, and to let the public form 

 their own opinions as to the points in dispute. Mr. Ridgway calls my 

 article "'a long list of so-called coriections." There are really less than 

 thirtv items given hy me from the perusal of two quarto volumes of more 

 than 700 pages, sho-wing priiiid facie but little to correct. Many (14) of 

 the items are typographical or proof-reader's errors, which need correction. 

 Eight items are "additional observations," which I mention as such rather 

 than corrections, although mostly called for by the omission of Dr. Brewer 

 to quote them while compiling a woi-k intended to comprise the whole 

 history of the birds as then known. The correction.s I make relating to 

 the writings of others are all typographical, except those given below, and 

 Dr. Brewer's omissions. 



I now proceed to answer Mr. Ridgway's questions and "rectifisations" 

 of his own portion of the work, hoping to satisfy him and all others as to 

 the aicts. 



Mareca americana. V\'icigeon. — The authority for the fact that the Wid- 

 geon does not breed in the United States is the history given in Vol. I, 

 p. 5.12-524, where it is quoted as breeding abundantly in British America, 

 "but only rarely in the extreme northern parts of the United States," with- 

 out giving any instance of the last-named kind. Mr. Ridgway's speci- 

 mens, though published eight years previously, are not referred to — -a 

 strange omission. 



I must, however, confess here to a blunder of my own, which is, that I 

 should have given ^'Rthyia (unericai/a, the Red Head, as mentioned by 

 Dr. Heermann, among the Ducks breeding in Sacramento Valley, Cali- 

 fornia, not the Widgeon. No one else seems to have found it breeding 

 south of Lat. 42°. 



Pelecanus californicus Ridgiv. — This being a little-known form I ven- 

 tured to give some facts as to specimens I collected at San Diego, without 

 any intention to "discredit" its distinctness as a species, but I will now 

 assert that its claims to that distinction seem very slight. Its larger size 

 is in accordance with the local variations of many other birds, and the 



