]00 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



revised to date, and entirely rewritten under direction of the author, with 

 a Dictionary of the Etymology, Orthography, and Orthoepy of the Scien- 

 tific Names, the Concordance of previous Lists, and a Catalogue of his 

 Ornithological Publications. Boston : Estes and Lauriat. 1882. 1 vol. 

 8vo, 166 pp.] 



We cannot state the object of Dr. Coues's new " Check- 

 list'^ better or more accurately than in the author's own 

 words. First it is intended " to pi'esent a complete list of 

 the birds now known to inhabit North America north of 

 Mexico, including Greenland, to classify them systemati- 

 cally, and to name them conformably with the current rules of 

 nomenclature; these being ornithological matters of science : 

 secondly, to take each word occurring in such technical 

 usage, explain its derivation, significance, and application, 

 spell it correctly, and indicate its pronunciation with the 

 usual diacritical marks ; these being purely philological mat- 

 ters, affecting not the scientific status of any bird, but the 

 classical questions involved in its name." 



So far as a cursory examination can enable us to form an 

 opinion, these specified objects are well carried out, and the 

 whole volume is prepared with the care and exactitude always 

 bestowed by Dr. Coues upon his work. With the second 

 portion of it we are especially interested, as, as is well known 

 to many of our readers, a list of British birds, with somewhat 

 similar explanations of the names appended, is now under 

 preparation by a Committee of the B. O. U., and will, we 

 hope, shortly make its appearance. 



Dr. Coues^s first " Check-list " contained 778 species and 

 subspecies. Ten of these have been removed in the present 

 edition; but, on the other hand, 120 additions are made, 

 bringing up the total of North-American species (found 

 within the limits above stated) to 888. Besides this, ten 

 further additions, made during the progress of the work, 

 are noted in the " addenda." The " appendix " gives a 

 useful catalogue of the author's ornithological publications. 



We will venture to make a few remarks upon some of Dr. 

 Coues's names and derivations. 



If " Myiadestes" (p. 44) is to be derived from iBearrj^ (an 



