278 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



Parts XIV., XV. : — Graculus cincinnatus, G. perspicillatus, 

 Chen, ca;rulescens, Somateria v-nigrum, Sagmatorhina lathami, 

 Stercorarius catarhactes, and Fratercula glacialis. 



Many of these plates are from Mr. Wolfs pencil, and some 

 are very beautiful, in particular that of the Mexican Turkey, 

 and those of the Cormorants. The occasional introduction of 

 woodcuts with details of the head, wings, and feet forms a new 

 atid useful feature of the work. In his " Introduction " Mr, 

 Elliot says some hard, but by no means undeserved, things of 

 species-makers : the origin of some so-called species he attri- 

 butes, and possibly with reason, to hybridization ; but more, we 

 think, are due to a process which, to coin a barbarous word, 

 might perhaps be called hyperbrehmization ! 



The first volume of the newly-commenced ' Memoirs of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History ' (pp. 542-563) contains a 

 valuable paper* by Prof. F. Sumichrast, who has long resided 

 in the State of Vera Cruz, and paid great attention to its orni- 

 thology. His object is to show the vertical range of the native 

 birds; while a list of the migratory species is also added, stating 

 the altitudes reached by them during their winter sojourn in 

 the country. A naturalist resident in a district like this is of 

 course able to treat of the distribution of the species within its 

 borders in a way that no traveller can possibly do ; and the 

 author has been at great pains to elucidate his subject, not only 

 giving the general range of each species, but also mentioning 

 instances where individuals have been found beyond its normal 

 limits. He divides the country into three vertical zones : — 



1. The Hot Region {tierra caUente), reaching from the sea- 

 level to a height of about 600 metres (2000 feet) ; 



2. The Temperate Region [tierra templada), embracing the 

 zone from 600 to 1500 metres (2000 to 5000 feet) ; and, 



3. The Alpine Region [tierra fria, he says, is too vague an 

 appellation), extending from 1500 to 3500 metres (5000 to 

 11,500 feet). The number of species especially mentioned 

 (though reference is made to many others) is 175, all belonging 



* An abstract is also printed in the ' Proceedings ' of the same Society 

 (xii. pp. 222-225). 



