278 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Cormorant, Phalacrocorax perspicillatus, from a specimen 

 obtained by Dr. Stejneger in 1895 from a bone-deposit on 

 Bering Island. It most nearly resembles the skull of 

 P. penicillatus among living Cormorants, but is larger and 

 wider, while the beak is shorter. 



48. Merriam {Florence A.) on Calif ornian Birds. 



[A-Birding on a Bronco. By Florence A. Merriam. 12mo. Boston 

 and New York, 1896.] 



In this charming little book the talented sister of Dr. C. 

 Hart Merriam gives an account of her experiences in Southern 

 California. Mounted on a white ''bronco/^ whose spirit 

 (and almost his jaw) had been broken by a Mexican bit. Miss 

 Merriam rambled and scrambled among the Coast Mountains, 

 not far from San Diego, and only twelve miles from the 

 Pacific, acquiring a capital insight respecting the private life 

 of the birds of the district. The style of work is popular, 

 and there are numerous photogravure illustrations, 



49. Newton and Gadow's ' Dictionary of Birds,' Part IV. 



[A Dictionary of Birds. By Alfred Newton, assisted by Hans Gadow. 

 With Contributions from Hichard Lydekker, Charles E. Roy, and Robert 

 W. Shufeldt. Part IV. London : A. & C. Black, 1896.] 



A copy of the fourth and concluding part of the ' Dic- 

 tionary of Birds ' came to us on January 1st and formed 

 a welcome New Year's gift, for which we are duly 

 grateful. We are sure that all ornithologists will hail the 

 completion of this work with pleasure. The general plan 

 and scope of the Dictionary are so well known from the 

 three former parts that we need not now recur to them. 

 We may remark that Skull, Solitaire, and Syrinx are three 

 articles that have specially interested us in the present part. 



As regards the Tinamous, it is not quite accurate to say 

 that they are " especially characteristic of the Patagonian or 

 Chilian portion of the Neotropical Region. '' Only two 

 species are found in Chili, and only eight in Argentina, most 

 of which occur in the northern provinces, while nearly all 

 the species of Tinamus, Nothocercus, and Crypturus (of which 



