a Notes and News. 405 
on the ornithology of North and Middle America, and now, after six years 
of preliminary work, the first volume is ready for the printer, and has 
been placed in the hands of the publication committee of the National 
Museum. 
The work is based mainly on the collections of the U. S. National Mu- 
seum, but much additional material has been consulted in the large museums 
and private collections throughout the country. It will probably run 
through seven octavo volumes, of about 600 pages each. 
About 3000 species and subspecies will be dealt with, accompanied by 
full descriptions, to which will be added the geographical distribution and 
synonymy of each. The synonymy, already completed, has been compiled 
with great care, special pains having been taken to verify each reference, 
giving the exact orthography of the original citation, and no references 
have been included which do not deal with some important fact in the dis- 
tribution, life history, or status of the species. The type locality and loca- 
tion of the type of each species will be given, when known. 
The general plan of the work will be similar to that of the recently 
published‘ Fishes of North and Middle America,’ by Jordan and Evermann ; 
but owing to the more extensive literature of birds the synonymy will be 
of greater length. 
Keys will be given for families, genera, and species, including all extra- 
limital American families; in the case of genera and species extralimital 
members will be included only when few in number, when a brief synon- 
ymy will be given in footnotes. 
Outline drawings of generic details of all genera included in the work 
will be given, similar to those in the author’s ‘Manual.’ The geograph- 
ical limits will be the entire continent of North America down to the 
southern extremity of the Isthmus of Panama, including the West Indies, 
isolated Caribbean islands, and Curagao, Aruba, and Bonaire; also the 
Galapagos group. 
The second volume is well under way, and will be ready for the printer 
about the end of the year. Much progress has been made on the remain- 
der of the work, such as the synonymy, keys to families, sequence of sub- 
jects, etc., and it is expected that volumes will be completed at the rate of 
about one a year. 
R. H. Porter, the well known London publisher, announces as ready 
for publication an important work by Richard M. Barrington, entitled, 
‘The Migration of Birds as observed at Irish Lighthouses and Lightships, 
including the Original Reports from 1888-97, now published for the first 
time, and an Analysis of these and of the previously published Reports 
from 1881-87. Together with an Appendix giving the measurements of 
about 1600 Wings.’ The work will form a thick octavo volume of 980 
pages, and the edition will be limited to 350 copies. The price will be 
25s net. 
