7A /i'eccnt Lifcrnture. \_Un 



Jan. 1902, i>p. 97-102) tlic scope aiui nciR-ral iliaracliT ot this i^reat work, 

 tlie classiiiciilioii adoptcil, and llie int'tliod ot trealiiu'iil einplovi.Hl, were 

 stated at some Ininlli; it is liciu-e iK'ii'ssar\' in llic pieseiil connection 

 merely to state the scope aiul some ot the siH'cial points ot tiie present 

 volume. 



Part 1 included only tlie single great taniily Fringillida-, while I'art ]1 

 covers the tour families 'i'anagridic, Icteridie, Cctrebidie, and Mniotiltida-. 



As previously noted, Mr. Ridgway has transferred the genera Pityliis 

 and SaltittorivMw the Tanagrida- to the l''ringillid;e. The genus Calypto- 

 philus is also now excluded anil i>ro\isionall v reteiieil lo the Mimidae ; 

 certain species referred hy Dr. Sclater to liie genus Clilorospiza^ forming 

 tlie genus rieinis/>in^HS Cabanis, are renio\eii to the Mniotiltida'; and the 

 genus Iridophaiu's Ridgwaj is transfeired from the Ca'rebida' to the 

 Tanagrida-. As now constituted, 21 genera of Tanagrida- come within 

 the scope of the present woik, ami are lepresented h\' 112 species and 

 subspecies. 



The family Icteridie comprises 22 genera and 1 1 1 species and subspecies, 

 of which 42 are included under the single genus Icterus^ whicli the author 

 (iiuls iiimself unable to satisfactorily di\iiie into subgenera, lie also 

 confesses his inability to separate the tamil\ into subfamilies, notwith- 

 standing the wide extremes in structuie and habits shown b_\' its tlitferent 

 components. 



Ti)C famil\' Cierebida' incluiles 6 genera anil 29 species and snbspecies. 



'I'he family Mniotiltida' has 28 genera and iSi species and subspecies, 

 of which 57 belong to the single genus Dendroica, 14 to Hclmiutliopliila, 

 23 to Geot/ilypi's, and 9 to Udsileuterns. ''^ Jlclminthop/iila cincinnatietisis 

 (Langdon) is not introduced into the ' key ' for the reason that it is ob- 

 viously a hybrid between //.//««.« and Oporornis formosa" ; //. lazvrencei 

 and //. Iciicohroitc/ttdlis, however, are treated as species, but the problem 

 oi their relationships is considered a \ery complicated one, it being 

 "altogether probable .... that dichromatism as well as liybridism enters 

 into tlie question of their origin." It seems hard to lay the ghost of 

 Wilsoji's AIuM'icapd miiittta, or ' Small-headed Flycatcher,' which here 

 still masquerades as Wilsn/iia murocephula Ridgway, on account of "the 

 peculiar combination of characters indicated in the original description 

 being shared by no other bird to my [Ridgway's] knowledge." That 

 there could have been any error in Wilson's description is iu)t intimated. 

 The Syh'iii vtotitumi of Wilson {Dendroicti montana of the A. C). U. 

 Hypothetical List) is, however, .synonymised as the young of D. x'ircns; 

 but Audubon's Sy/r'/a carbonata is given a place as Dendroica carhotuita, 

 although it "continues to be known only from Audubon's description and 

 colored plate." 



Among the new species and subspecies here described for the lirst time 

 are two from the I'uited States, namely, Coinpsof/ily/>is ainericana nima- 

 limv (p. 486, geographic distribution added on p. 783), the Mississippi 

 \alley form of the Parula Warbler, which is said to have a breeding range 



