Recent OrnWiolugical Publications. 521 



territory of the Great Republic; and two articles on the birds of 

 Alaska in the * Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences ' 

 and also published separately ^, are of more than usual interest. 

 The expedition before mentioned by us (Ibis, 1865, pp. 239, 

 240) sailed northwards from San Francisco in July 1865, and 

 visited various places on either side of the Pacific — Mr. Kenni- 

 cott, the chief of the division of naturalists, remaining to winter 

 on the Yukon, where, in the month of May following, this inde- 

 fatigable traveller died of a heart-complaint aggravated by ex- 

 posure and privation. The direction of the scientific corps then 

 devolved upon Mr. William H, Dall; and well he seems to have 

 performed its duties. We have no room to chronicle his various 

 'journeys and explorations; suffice it to say that their ornitho- 

 logical results are most instructive, and are admirably set forth 

 by himself and his colleague Mr. Bannister, assisted by further 

 observations by Prof. Baird. Five new species were obtained, 

 while three more, though previously known, are new to the 

 American fauna. The most important feature of these dis- 

 coveries is that they show a more decided Palsearctic bearing 

 in this part of the Nearctic region than had hitherto been 

 suspected. We have Budijtes flavus, abundant at St. MichaePs, 

 in Norton Sound, a Phijllopneuste, described as new (P. ken- 

 nicotti, Baird) and obtained at the same place, a Pyrrhula 

 from the Yukon, which, though designated (by Prof. Baird) 

 P. coccinea, vai". cassini, appears to be a very good species, Li- 

 mosa uropygialisy Gould, and Graculus bicristatus (Pall.) — none 

 of which have before been recorded from the New World ; 

 while the remainder, now fii"st described, are Troglodytes alas- 

 censis, Leucosticte Hit oralis, and Sterna alevtica, all of which 

 birds, with some others, are figured. W^e may remark that 

 Prof. Baird follows Cassin and Dr. Brewer in applying the 

 name " Falco sacer, Forster,^' to the large Falcon found in 

 Alaska, though he does so provisionally. We have before stated 

 (Ibis, 1862, p. 51, note) that we were at a loss to refer this 

 name to any known species; but if the character of the ?/eZ/oM; 



* List of the Birds of Alaska. With biographical Notes, by W. H. 

 Dall and H. M. Bannister. With Descriptions of New Species, by 

 Prof. S. F. Baird. Chicago : 1869. Roy. 8vo, pp. 267, 375, pis. 8. 



