I04- Recent Literature. [January 



still concurs, although thev of course appear (necessarily) in the com- 

 parative lists of the Appendix. 



The 'Key' is still entitled to the high favor it has hitherto received, and 

 will prove, as it ever has, a work of the greatest utility. It has, of course, 

 its short-comings, but they detract little from its usefulness. Some of 

 its statements about the nesting-habits of certain species or groups of 

 species are a little too sweeping, and the descriptions of the eggs, as to 

 number and color, not always above criticism, while there are a few 

 lapses of a graver sort. When the fourth edition is called for, as it 

 doubtless ere long will be, the author may then find it expedient to once 

 more recast and perfect a work which has not only proved a great boon to 

 the ornithological public, but has had unquestionably a marked influence 

 upon the progress of ornithology, and done more than any other to make 

 the subject popular and comprehensible to the general reader. — J. A. A. 



Townsend's Field-notes on the Birds of Northern California.* — Mr. 



Townsend's 'Field-notes' were based on observations made in the coun- 

 ties of Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, and Lassen, April i, 1883, to July 15, 



1884, and in Humboldt County, Nov. 15, to Dec. 17, 1S85. To make the 

 list of birds as complete as possible for that portion of California north of 

 the fortieth parallel, he has added to the two hundred observed by him- 

 self some sixty additional species made known by others as inhabitants 

 of the region, making 261 in all. The list is copiously annotated and 

 contains interesting biographical matter. His account of the nest and 

 eggs of the Black-throated Graj' Warbler {^Dendroica nigresce7is) is es- 

 pecially noteworthy as the first for the species. The bird portion of the 

 paper closes with a table illustrating the vertical range of birds of 

 Northern California, modelled after a similar one in 'The Auk' (Vol. II, 



1885, p. 11) by Mr. F. M. Drew on the birds of Colorado. 



The 'Field-notes' on the mammals and reptiles are equally full and in- 

 teresting, but of course call for no special remark in the present connec- 

 tion. A useful sketch-map of the region accompanies the paper, and 

 several pages of introductory matter describes the topographical features 

 of the country under notice. — J. A. A. 



Shufeldt's Contributions to Avisection.f — Dr. Shufeldt continues his 

 admirable avisections. His latest article reviews some of the taxonomi- 

 cally important musculatures. These are, namely, five pectorimyons ;J 



*Field-notes on the Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles of Northern California. By 

 Charles H. Townsend. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887, pp. 159-241. (Birds, pp. 

 190-237.) 



tA Review of the Muscles Used in the Classification of Birds. By R. W. Shufeldt, 

 M. D., C. M. Z. S., Captain Medical Corps, U. S. Army, etc. Journ. Compar. Med. and 

 Surg., Oct. 1887. 24 pp. 



XMyo7i, any individual unit of musculature; what Dr. Coues formerly called a 

 "muscular integer." — Pcctonuiyon, any myon of the pectoral arch or shoulder girdle 

 proper. — Pelvimyon, any myon of the pelvic arch or hip girdle. 



