1890.] Recent Literature. ^^7 



cordance and Index,' "in the order in which they stand in his 'Beitrage,' 

 with a reference to the volume and page of the 'Reise' or 'Beitrage' where 



they were first described," while "in the second column is given the 

 equivalent name under which they are treated in the present paper, the 

 figures at the extreme right referring to the page where the species is con. 

 sidered." 



The paper is an extremely important one, and in its preparation the 

 author has performed a good work, for which students of South American 

 ornithology will be grateful. — R. R. 



Dionne's Catalogue of the Birds of Quebec* — The writer modestly 

 expresses a hope that his work will be of some use as a guide to the young 

 ornithologists of Quebec. This is evidently its chief purpose, and is one 

 that cannot fail to be amply fulfilled. The Catalogue follows the classifi- 

 cation and nomenclature of the A. O. U. Check-List, and gives also — as an 

 aid in reference to earlier writers — the names and numbers borne by each 

 species in the check-lists of Baird, Coues, and Ridgway. Following this 

 comes a generalized statement of the bird's distribution, adapted from the 

 A. O. U. Check-List, together with information as to its occurrence, 

 abundance, times of appearance, etc., in the Province of Quebec. Of the 

 273 species and subspecies recorded, the following seem noteworthy : 

 Megalestris skua, Larus brachyrhynchus, Puffiiius citierens, Anas strep- 

 era, Ardea ccerulea, Otocoris alpestris firaticola , Pica pica kudsonica, 

 Ammodramus caiidacutus subvirgatits, Pipilo erythroplitlialmits, Piraiiga 

 rubra. It is to be regretted that in recording rarities Mr. Dionne does not 

 always give full particulars and, in some of these cases, that the specimens 

 were not identified by some ornithologist of unquestionable authority. 



The author justly regrets the scantiness of the data at his command, 

 and, doubtless, more field work in his own neighborhood would have led 

 him to change some statements, especially as to the abundance of certain 

 species. Nevertheless he gives us much valuable information, and a book 

 that promises to serve so well the purpose for which it was written may 

 well be spared too searching criticism. — C. F. B. 



Proceedings of the Linnaean Society.! — The Linniean Society has re 

 cently issued a brief 'abstract' of its Proceedings for the year ending 

 March 7, 1S90. "A. large proportion of the papers read before the Society- 

 have been published in 'The Auk,' 'Forest and Stream,' and the 'Bulletin 

 of the American Museum of Natural History,'" and are only mentioned 

 here. The bulk of the abstract is made up of brief items, chiefly ornitho- 

 logical, and many of them of much importance. The only paper of anv 



* Catalogue | des [ Oiseaux | de la Province de Quebec | avec des Notes sur leur 

 Distribution Geographique | par | C. E. Dionne | [cut] | Quebec | des Presses k 

 Vapeur de J. Dussault, | Port Dauphin [ 1889. 8vo. pp. 119. 



t Abstract | of the Proceedings of the | Linnaean Society | of | New York | for the 

 Year ending March 7, 1890. 8vo. pp. 10. 



