1914" J Recent Literature. 407 



and piciiius are recognized. The California Woodpecker and its races are 

 separated generically as Balanosphyra Rgdw., while for the Red-cockaded 

 Woodpecker the generic name Phrenopicus Bp. is used. The genus Ceryle 

 is divided, Streptoceryle being used for C. alcyon and torquata, and Chloro- 

 ceryle for C. americana and its allies. 



Several races accepted by the A. O. U. Committee are rejected by Mr. 

 Ridgway as Phalcenoptilus nuttallii nitidus Brewster which he regards as 

 not distinct from P. nitidus; Cryptoglaux acadicus scotceus Osgood which 

 is considered an individual variation of C. acadicus; and Otus flammeolus 

 idahoensis Merriam which is referred to 0. flammeolus. 



Melanerpes formicivora of the Check-List appears as subspecies aculeata 

 Mearns, true formicivora being exclusively Mexican and in the same way 

 Dryobates scularis bairdi of the Check-List becomes D. s. symplectus. 

 Otus asio is considered to apply to the Florida Screech Owl which necessi- 

 tates the use of 0. a. noevius (Gm.) for the common eastern form, while 

 O. xantusi is made a subspecies of 0. asio. 



The footnotes throughout the volume are full of important bibliographic 

 references and synonymy of extralimital forms, while the generic synonymy 

 in the main text contains numerous names with their types designated 

 which are not to be found in other general works. 



' The Birds of North and Middle America ' is essentially a technical work 

 and only those who are constantly engaged in general systematic ornithology 

 will really appreciate the enormous amount of labor that the author has 

 expended upon it. Mr. Ridgway richly deserves the congratulations of all 

 ornithologists upon the splendid results that he has already accomplished 

 and their best wishes for his success in the volumes that still remain to be 

 completed. — W. S. 



Chapman on New Birds from Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. — 



Dr. Chapman's studies of the rich scries of South American birds obtained 

 by the recent expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History are 

 progressing steadily and two pubHcations relating to them have recently 

 appeared. In the first ^ he calls attention to the need of collections from the 

 Bogota district of Colombia in order to fix the exact type localities of the 

 200 species that have been described from there, and describes very briefly 

 the itinerary of the expedition which he conducted to Bogotd, in 1913 for 

 the purpose of securing the desired material. Some 2300 specimens 

 representing over 500 species were obtained, and 28 forms are here described 

 as new either from this collection or from that of the previous expedition. 



A second paper ^ describes the attempt of Mr. Leo E. Miller and Mr. F. X. 

 Iglseder of the American Museum to reach Mt. Duida on the upper Orinoco. 



> Diagnoses of apparently new Colombian Birds, II. By Frank M. Chapman. 

 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXIII, Art. XII, pp. 167-192. March 19, 1914. 



2 Descriptions of a new Genus and Species of Birds from Venezuela. By Frank. 

 M. Chapman, do., Art. XIII, pp. 193-197. March 19, 1914. 



