Recently published Ornithological Works. 257 



essay, and amongst them Xiphocolaptes sclateri, of Mexico, 

 X virgatus (locality unknown), X. ignotus, from Ecuador (?), 

 X cinnamomeus, from Eastern Brazil, and X major casta- 

 neus, from Bolivia, are described as new. We may perhaps 

 venture to question the advisability of founding new species 

 of this excessively difficult group upon single specimens from 

 uncertain localities. 



51. Ridgway on the Genus Sclerurus. 



[A Review of the Genus Sclerurus of Swainson. By Robert Ridffwav 

 I'i'oc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xii. p. 21.] 



Mr. Ridgway reviews the members of this somewhat diffi- 

 cult genus of Deudrocolaptidse, and recognizes 9 species. He 

 describes as new S. canigularis, from Costa Rica, and S. 

 lawrencii, from " Bahia," but " locality probably erroneous." 

 He also resuscitates S. fuscus, from the " Upper Amazons " 

 ( = Tinactorfuscus, Max., part.), but it is difficult to under- 

 stand how Pr. Max.'s type can have come from such a 

 locality. 



52. Ridgway on Birds from Galapagos. 



[Scientific Results of Explorations of the U.S. Fish-Commission 

 Steamer ■ Albatross.'— I. Birds collected on the Galapagos Islands in 

 1888. By Robert Ridgway. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xii. p. 101.] 



In April 1888 the U.S. Fish-Commission s.s. 'Albatross > 

 visited the Galapagos Islands, and the naturalist of the Expe- 

 dition, Prof. Leslie A. Lee, assisted by Mr. Charles H. Towns- 

 hend and Mr. Thomas Lee, made a very interesting collection 

 of birds there, which, we are told, '< would have been more 

 extensive had not other duties more closely connected with 

 the objects of the cruise prevented." Be this as it may, 

 examples of 47 species were actually obtained, out of 69 now 

 known to inhabit the group, and of these several are new to 

 science. Besides this two islands were visited upon which 

 no previous collections had been formed, and considerable 

 additions have been made to our knowledge of the exact 

 localities of the Galapagan species, so that Prof. Lee and his 



