372 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



" Habitat," which, since the time of Linnseus, has been used 

 to express what Mr. Backhouse calls " Distribution/' and not 

 the kind of country to which a bird mostly resorts. Again, if 

 the Scutelliplantar Passeres are recognized as a separate group 

 they should be placed at the end of the typical Oscines, and 

 not in the middle of them. Mr. Backhouse does not exactly 

 define the limits of " Europe " as regarded from his point of 

 view, but appears to comprehend in it the Caucasus. He has 

 very wisely not troubled his readers with synonyms, which 

 in a volume of this character are well omitted. But his 

 nomenclature and general arrangement are such as must 

 commend themselves to his brother members of the B.O.U. 



61. Barrows on the English Sparrow in North America. 



[U.S. Department of Agriculture. Division of Economic Ornithology 

 and Mammalogy. Bulletin 1. The English Sparrow {Passer domesticus) 

 in North America, especially in its relations to Agriculture. Prepared 

 under the direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist, hy Walter B. 

 Barrows, Assistant Ornithologist. 8vo. Washington : 1889.] 



This is a memoir of 606 pages on the great Sparrow-question, 

 and may well be believed, as Dr. Merriam claims for it, to be 

 the " most systematic, comprehensive, and important treatise 

 ever published upon the economic relations of any bird." 

 The Sparrow was only first introduced into America in 1850 ; 

 but it has so thriven as to have now spread all over the 

 eastern States, as is shown by the map attached to the 

 memoir, and in some favoured places to abound in enormous 

 quantities. The result arrived at, after full discussion, is 

 that the Sparrow is " a curse of such virulence that it ought 

 to be systematically attacked and destroyed," and it is shown 

 how this may be effected by poisoning, trapping, and netting. 



62. Berlepsch on Birds from Upper Amazonia. 



[Systematisches Verzeichniss der von Herrn Gustav Garlepp in Bra- 

 silien und Nord-Peru, im Gebiete des oberen Amazonas, gesammelten 

 Vogelbalge. Von Hans von Berlepsch. J. f. O. 1839, p. 289.] 



Graf v. Berlepsch continues his account of Herr Garlepp's 

 bird-collections in Upper Amazonia (cf. supra, p. Ill), and 



