108 Recent Literature. \_f^^ 



The preface states in detail the places, dates, and names of the observers 

 working under the auspices of the Survey in different years. The senior 

 author, a botanist by profession and an ornithologist incidentally, says that 

 "although attending to other subjects which claimed most of his time, had 

 constantly before him the necessity of the present work and has been col- 

 lecting notes and observations for it during all his journeys since 1879, 

 while his assistant, Mr. J. M. Macoun, has carried on similar work since 

 1885." The notes from these dates to 1889 appear respectively under the 

 names of J. Macoun and J. M. Macoun. " Practically all of the notes made 

 by either of us since that time are credited to Mr. William Spreadborough," 

 who since 1889 accompanied one or the other of the authors to the field, 

 although during five seasons he worked quite independently of either. 

 "It detracts nothing," says the senior author, "from the importance of 

 other notes published for the first time in this Catalogue to say its chief 

 value is to be found in the matter credited to Mr. Spreadborough. His 

 notes, revised by us, cover nearly the whole Dominion from Labrador and 

 Hudson Bay to Vancouver island and north to the Peace river. . . .The 

 greater part of the compilation of the new material for this edition of the 

 Catalogue has been done by my assistant Mr. J. M. Macoun." 



The above extracts indicate the sources and chief basis of this great work 

 on the distribution and ranges of Canadian birds, but all published material 

 and much unpublished matter from correspondents, whose names and 

 places of residence are given in the preface, has also been utilized. A two- 

 page "list of principal authorities cited," numbering about forty titles, 

 follows the preface. While a great deal of the matter given in the first 

 edition is here reprinted, the chief value of the Catalogue to working orni- 

 thologists is the new notes on distribution now added. We are also 

 privately informed that specimens of everything found south of the remote 

 parts of Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River exist as vouchers for the 

 nomenclature employed. It is further stated in the preface that "as the 

 authors expect to publish annually an addendum to this catalogue the 

 necessary corrections will be made from time to time and the co-operation 

 of collectors and observers is solicited for the work." 



The field work here covered, and the area embraced is so extensive, that 

 the labor of compiling such a mass of observations cannot readily be appre- 

 ciated. As a result we have here brought together the principal facts of 

 the subject, condensed into a volume of less than 800 pages. The work is 

 therefore so important, and apparently so well done, that we reluctantly 

 refer to the fact that the statement that the nomenclature is made up from 

 the A. O. U. Check-List and latest supplements is hardly borne out by the 

 body of the text. It would not be right to expect to find in it the few changes 

 in nomenclature made in the fifteenth supplement, published in July, 1909; 

 but it is rather surprising to find that the very numerous changes published 

 in the fourteenth supplement, in July, 1908, have been overlooked although 

 papers on Canadian birds published in the volume of 'The Auk' containing 

 this supplement are freely cited. We note with satisfaction, however, 



