406 Recent Literature. Ijuly 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Ridgway 's ' The Birds of North and Middle America. ' Part VI. ^ — 



This portly volume carries Mr. Ridgway's great work almost as far as the 

 Falconiformes, the two groups Coccygiformes (Cuckoo-Uke Birds) and 

 Psittaciformes (Parrots), which intervene having been omitted on account 

 of lack of space, although the former is entirely in type and the latter 

 nearly completed. It will thus be seen that of the ' land birds ' Mr. 

 Ridgway has only the Hawks and the GaUinaceous birds to treat of. 



The famiUes covered in the present part are treated in the same thorough 

 manner that characterized the earher volumes. Seven of the twelve do 

 not occur north of Mexico and the West Indies, but the Woodpeckers, 

 Goatsuckers, Owls, and Kingfishers contain many North American species 

 and the volume will thus be of much greater interest to those who do not 

 extend their studies below the southern boundary of the United States, 

 than was its predecessor. The treatment of the Nighthawks and Horned 

 Owls follows the recent monographs of Mr. Harry C. Oberholser, since Mr. 

 Ridgway examined the material with him and coincided with his views. 

 The new forms proposed in this connection have been elsewhere commented 

 upon in these columns. In other groups we note: Psilopornis (p. 361), a 

 new genus with Galbula albirostris as its type, and the following new Sub- 

 species; Hypnelus ruficollis coloratus (p. 382), Encontrados, Venezuela; 

 Otus asio hasbroucki (p. 694), Palo Pinto Co., Texas; 0. a. brewsteri (p. 700), 

 Salem, Oregon; Glaucidiuin gnoma grinnelli (p. 791), Humboldt Bay, 

 CaUfornia; G. siju vittaium (p. 805), Isle of Pines; Micropallas whitneyi 

 sanfordi (p. 809), Lower California; and M. w. idoneus (p. 810), Hidalgo, 

 Texas. A number of changes in the nomenclature of species of the A. O. U. 

 Check-List are noticed. Dryobates villosus leucomelas becomes septen- 

 trionalis, while the subspecies D. v. leucothorectes, orius, sitkensis, icastus, 

 D. pubescens glacialis, D. scalaris eremicus, and cactophilus, Colaptes auratus 

 borealis, Xenopicus albolarvatus graviroslris, Phlceotomus pileatus floridanus 



1 The Birds 1 of 1 North and Middle America: | A Descriptive Catalogue | of the | 

 Higher Groups, Genera, Species, and Subspecies of Birds 1 Iniown to occur in North 

 America, from the 1 Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama | the West Indies and 

 other Islands | of the Caribbean Sea, and the | Galapagos Archipelago. | By | Robert 

 Ridgway, | Curator, Division of Birds. 1 Part VI. 



Family Picidse — The "Woodpeckers. Family Momotidse — The Motmots. 



Family Capitonidae — The Barbets. Family Caprimulgidae — The Goat- 



Family Ramphastidse — The Toucans. suckers. 



Family Bucconidse — The Pufif Birds. Family Nyctibiidae — The Potoos. 

 Family GalbuLidse — The Jacamars. Family Tytonidse — The Barn Owls. 



Family Alcedinidae — The Kingfishers. Family Bubonidae — The Eared Owls. 

 Family Todidse — The Todies. 



Bulletin of the United States National Museum. No. 50. Washington Govt. 

 Printing Office. April 8, 1914. pp. i-xx+1-882, pU. I-XXXVI. 



