34 6 



Recent Literature. [o" t k 



Shufeldt has for some time contended that while Swifts and Humming- 

 birds have some superficial resemblances, the}' are in no way closely re- 

 lated, and should constitute two separate suborders, and that the Swifts 

 are in reality only highly modified Swallows. In 'The Ibis' for January, 

 1S93, he has presented his evidence anew and discussed the subject at 

 length. In the following number of 'The Ibis' (July, 1S93) Mr. Lucas 

 has presented at moderate length the counter-evidence, taking apparently 

 well-founded exceptions to a number of Dr. Shufeldt's propositions. In 

 this connection Mr. Lucas objects to "sweeping generalizations based 

 on the examination and comparison of a limited number of local forms 

 and the assumption that certain questions have been definitely answered 

 when we are really just beginning to gather in the facts that shall make 

 such answer possible." — J. A. A. 



Ridgway on New Birds from Mexico and the West Indies.— Mr. 

 Ridgway has recently described two new subspecies of Basileuterus rufi- 

 frons from Mexico, 1 namely, B. r.jouyi, from San Luis Potosi, and B. r. 

 dugesi from Guanajuato, western Mexico. Also a new species of Odonto- 

 pkorus (O. consobrinus) from Mirador, southern Mexico, 2 allied to O. 

 gtittatus. Mr. Ridgway has also described two new Swifts, 3 one, Chcetura 

 lazvrencei, from Grenada, West Indies, the other, Cypseloides cherriei, from 

 Costa Rica. The first is allied to C. guianensis Hartert, and belongs to 

 the C. cinereiventris group, to which Mr. Ridgway considers both must 

 be referred as subspecies of C. cinereiventris. The Cypseloides cherriei 

 finds its nearest relative in C. brunneitorqiies. — J. A. A. 



Stejneger on Japanese Birds. — Dr. Stejneger has recently made two 

 additions 4 to the Japanese avifauna, one being Tringa temminckii 

 (Leisl.), from the neighborhood of Tokyo, the other Acanthopneuste ijmce 

 sp. nov., from Seven Islands, Japan, allied to A. coronatus. He has also 

 published a short paper 5 on a specimen of Gray Shrike from Yezo, which 

 he refers to Lanius sibiricus (Bogd.), and incidentally considers the 

 relationship of L. borealis and L. sibiricus to L. excubitor, regarding 



1 Descriptions of Two New Forms of Basileuterus I'ufifrons, from Mexico. By 

 Robert Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XV, p. 119. 



2 Description of a supposed New Species of Odontophorus from southern Mexico. 

 By Robert Ridgway, Ibid., XVI, pp. 469, 470. 



3 Description of two supposed New Species of Swifts. By Robert Ridgway. Ibid., 

 XVI, pp. 43, 44. 



4 Two Additions to the Japanese Avifauna, including description of a New Species. 

 By Leonhard Stejneger. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XV, pp. 371-373. 



5 On the Status of the Gray Shrike, collected by Capt. Blakiston, in Yezo, Japan. 

 By Leonhard Stejneger. Ibid., XVI, pp. 217, 218. 



