1S90.] Recent Literature. 27 ^ 



above respecting the meagreness of our knowledge of the variations in 

 Xiphocolaptes depending upon age, sex, and season, apply with even 

 greater emphasis to the present group, specimens of which are so hard 

 to procure that no very large series of any form is as yet available for 

 study.— J. A. A. 



Ridgway on Birds from the Galapagos Islands, the Abrolhos, the 

 Island of Santa Lucia, and from the Straits of Magellan— Mr. Ridgway 

 has published two papers on the birds collected during the recent cruise 

 of U. S. Fish Commission Steamer 'Albatross,' from New York around 

 Cape Morn to San Francisco, Calfornia, the first* treating of the birds 

 obtained at the Galapagos Islands. This collection is of special interest, 

 as containing birds from two islands of this peculiarly interesting group 

 from which no birds had previously been collected. Specimens of 47 

 species were obtained, including ten species not previouly reported from 

 the Galapagos Archipelago, eight of which are described as new. An 

 annotated list of the species is given, followed by a tabular list of all 

 the 69 species thus far found among these islands, showing their distri- 

 bution among the different islands, with also special lists for each island, 

 and the authorities on which their occurrence rests. The paper is thus an 

 epitome of our present knowledge of the ornithology of this "classic 

 ground." 



A new genus, Nesomimus (type Mimus melanotis Gould), is provided 

 for the peculiar Mimine birds of the Galapagos Islands, and the follow- 

 ing new species are characterized: (1) Nesomimus macdonaldi, Hood 

 Island; (2) N. personatus, Abingdon Island; (3) Certhidca ciuerascens. 

 Hood Island; (4) Geospiza conirostris, Hood Island; (5) G. media, 

 Hood Island; (6) Cactornis brevirostris, Chatham Island; (7) Cama- 

 rkytichus toivnsendi, Charles Island; (8) C. pauper, Charles Island ; (9) 

 Pcecilonetta galapagensis, Charles Island. Two specimens of the rare 

 Creagrus furcatus were obtained at Chatham Island, showing Creagrus to 

 be, in Mr. Ridgway's opinion, one of the best characterized genera of the 

 Larinae. A single specimen of Sula gossi was collected at Chatham 

 Island, and a specimen of Htemaiopus galapagensis from James Island. 



From the above showing, says Mr. Ridgway, it is evident "that the 

 avifauna of the Galapagos Archipelago is by no means exhausted as a 

 field of promising research in the problem of the 'derivative origin of 

 species.' Future exploration will no doubt add new species and extend 

 the range of those already known. The largest island of the group, 

 Albemarle, is still almost untouched; . . . two islands (Wenman and 

 Culpepper) have not been explored at all, while it can be safely said that 

 on none of the islands has anything like a thorough investigation of the 

 bird-fauna been made." 



* Scientific Results of Explorations by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Alba- 

 tross. No. I. Birds collected on the Galapagos Islands in 1888. By Robert Ridg- 

 way. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XII, 1889, pp. 101-128. 



