440 Recent Literature. [oct. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Chubb's ' The Birds of British Guiana.' ' — One of the most notable 

 ornithological publications of the year is the first volume of Chubb's ' Birds 

 of British Guiana.' This work is gotten out by Mrs. F. V. McConnell as 

 a memorial to her late husband, and is based mainty upon the collections 

 made by him during numerous visits to the Colony, where he had extensive 

 interests. On two occasions, in 1894 and 1898 Mr. McConnell made 

 extended trips to Mt. Roraima in the interior, so that his collection con- 

 tained nearly all the species known from British Guiana. At the time of 

 his death in 1914 he was engaged with Mr. Chubb in making a catalogue 

 of the specimens which he proposed to publish as a contribution to our 

 knowledge of the geographic distribution of the birds of this portion of 

 South America. In following out his plan, Mrs. McConnell wisety decided 

 to extend the scope of the work, to include all species known from the 

 Colony and to draw when necessary upon other collections and previous 

 publications, in order to make the work as complete an account as pos- 

 sible of the birds of British Guiana. 



In asking Mr. Chubb to prepare the work she could not have made a 

 better choice, while the publication of her husband's journal of the 1894 

 Roraima trip as an introduction adds much to the general interest of the 

 volume. This first volume covers all the gi-oups with the exception of 

 the Passeres and treats of 349 species. Under each species are given a 

 reference to the original place of publication of the name, and a synonymy 

 of British Guiana references. Then come descriptions of the adults and 

 young, and paragraphs on the ' Breeding Season,' ' Nest,' ' Eggs,' ' Range 

 in British Guiana,' ' Extralimital Range ' and ' Habits.' In many cases 

 little or nothing is known concerning various of these subjects and this 

 fact is stated, thereby indicating clearly what information is still a desider- 

 atum. While Mr. Chubb modestly states that the work is not intended 

 to be a monogi-aph of the birds of British Guiana, he seems to be thor- 

 oughly familiar with the literature of the subject and to have searched it 

 exhaustively and with good judgment, in compiling the data that he pre- 

 sents. 



In stating the range in British Guiana, all the locahties represented in 

 the McConnell collection are listed, as well as additional ones published l^y 

 others, which is the only thoroughly accurate way of working out geo- 

 graphical distribution. The colored plates by H. Gronwold present 



1 The Birds of British Guiana. Based on the collections of Frederic Vavasour McConnell 

 Camfield Place, Hatfield, Herts. By Charles Chubh. F. Z. S., M. B. O. U., Zoological 

 Department, British Museum. With a Preface by Mrs. F. V. McConnell. Vol. I. Lon- 

 don: Bernard Quaretch, 11 Grafton Street, W. 1916. Royal 8vo. pp. i-liii + 1-528, 

 colored pU. I-X, map, numerous text figures, frontispiece portrait and 16 half-tone plates 

 of scenery, natives, etc. Edition limited to 250 copies. Price of Vol. I, £2. 2s. net. 



