338 Recent Literature. [j^^ 



tic review of the species, with keys to the higher groups, genera, and species, 

 short descriptions of the latter, and brief indications of their breeding 

 areas and winter ranges, the species treated numbering 144. On the ac- 

 companying map the ranges of various genera, and of some of the species, 

 are graphically represented, as well as the boundaries of the three distri- 

 bution areas briefly outlined in the text. The text illustrations and the 

 five plates furnish characteristic representations of the greater part of the 

 species mentioned in the text. 



The second part deals especially, and in much greater detail, with the 

 birds of the South Polar regions, 54 in number. The boundaries of the 

 region considered are given on a map (p. 541), together with the northern 

 Umit of the south polar distribution zone, of the pack-ice, and of icebergs. 

 There is also an important bibliography of the subject, with very full 

 bibhographic references under each species, and the distribution of each 

 species is treated in great detail. The work is thus an important contribu- 

 tion to the oniithologj' of the south polar regions, and a smnmary of present 

 knowledge of the oceanic distribution of bird Ufe. — J. A. A. 



Godman's ' Monograph of the Petrels.' The second installment ' of 

 this important work concludes the genus Cymodroma and includes the 

 genus Puffinus, — 25 species in all, of which 20 are figured. In general 

 character it of course conforms to Part I, already noticed, the history of 

 each species being given at considerable length, and its relationships and 

 nomenclature duly considered. The plates maintain the same high degree 

 of excellence. 



The foUovi-ing technical points may be here mentioned as of some inter- 

 est. The genus Cymodroma Ridgway, 1884, is antedated by Fregetta 

 Bonaparte, 1854, both with the same type by original designation. The 

 only objection to Fregetta is that there is an earlier Fregatta (Lacepede, 

 1799), based on the Frigate Birds, but the names are too unlike to involve 

 confusion.- 



PufjUnus borealis Cory is considered as not separable from P. kuhli, 

 although American writers (perhaps mistakenly) regard them as specifi- 

 cally distinct. Hartert recognizes (Nov. Zool., II, 1905, 97) the form 

 of P. kuhli from the Azores and Madeira as subspecificaUy different, under 

 the name Puffinus kuhli ftavirostris (Gould), but Dr. Godman says that 

 after ha^'ing examined the specimens in the Rothschild and British Mu- 

 seums he is "driven to the conclusion that a perfect gradation exists," 

 and that he follows "Salvin in uniting the two races"; failing to recognize 

 the fact that 'races,' or 'subspecies,' are expected to show intergradation. 

 But it seems that Dr. Godman is one of the few ornithologists who are 



J Part II, pages 59-152, plates xx-xxxix. March, 1908. For notice of Part I, 

 see antea, p. 244. 



2C/. Coues, Auk, XIV, 1897, 315; A. O. U. Committee, Auk, XVI, 1899, 102; 

 Sharpe, Hand-List of Birds, I, 1899, 122; Salvadori, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, No. 

 CXLII, April, 1908, 79, footnote; Richenow, Vogel des Weltmeeres, 1908. 



