256 Recent Literature. [April 



in the middle ages applied vaguely to many shades of red, now applied to 

 mixture of red and blue in various proportions, usually containing also 

 some black or white or both, approaching on the one side to crimson and 

 on the other to violet." The Purple Finch was therefore appropriately 

 named though approaching to crimson, while the Purple Grackle and the 

 Purple Martin were equally well named though approaching to violet. 

 My notion of " purple " evidently inclines to the violet. 



In this letter my correspondent also says — " I used to hear the Wood 

 Thrush called the ' red Mavis ' at Framingham, Mass., where I spent my 

 childhood." This is interesting as indicating a possible transit of the 

 name with some early colonists and its local survival. 



In Newton's " Dictionary of Birds " I find the following in a footnote 

 under " Woodpecker " — " The number of English names, ancient and 

 modern, by which these birds are known is very great, and even a bare list 

 of them could not be here given. The Anglo-Saxon was Higera or Higere, 

 and to this may plausibly be traced ' Hickwall,' nowadays used in some 

 parts of the country, and the older ' Hickway,' corrupted first into ' High- 

 haw,' and, after its original meaning was lost, into ' Hewhole,' which in 

 North America has been still further corrupted into ' Highhole ' and more 

 recently into 'High-holder.'" — Spencer Trotter, Swarthmore College, 

 Penn. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle America. Part V.^ — This 

 long delayed volume forming Part V of Mr. Ridgway's great work appeared 

 November 29, 1911, but was not generally distributed until more than a 

 month later. It comprises the remaining Passerine families, Pteroptochi- 

 dse (1 species), Formicariidse (66 species and subspecies), Furnariidae (29), 



1 The Birds | of North and Middle America | a Descriptive Catalogue I of the | 

 Higher Groups, Genera, Species, and Subspecies of Birds | known to occur in 

 North America, from the | Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama | the West 

 Indies and other I.slands | of the Caribbean Sea, and the [ Galapagos Archi- 

 pelago I by I Robert Ridgway | Curator, Division of birds. | 



Part V. I Family Pteroptochidse — The Tapaculos Family DendrocolaptidsB 



— The Woodhewers 1 Family Formicariidse — ■ The Antbirds Family Trochilidse — 

 The Humming Birds | Family Furnarhdse — The Ovenbirds Family Micropodidae 



— The Swifts | Family Trogonidse ^ The Trogons | — 1 Washington: | Govern- 

 ment Printing Office. | 1911. = Bulletin of the United States National Museum. 

 No. 50. Part V. — 8vo. pp. i-xxiii + 1-859, pU. i-xxxiii. 



