'2 02 Recoif Literatui-e. [July 



veais 1SS2 to 18S7, supplemeiiled by those of "numerous observers in 

 various piirts of the Province." In addition to this an attempt is made 

 to include all published records bearing on the distribution of Manitoban 

 birds which have not appeared in distinctively ornithological publications. 

 In an introduction of eight pages the author defines the boundaries of the 

 Province, and describes in much detail its physical features. The accom- 

 panying map shows also the distribution of both the deciduous and co- 

 niferous forests, the marshes, sand dunes, and prairies. Then follows (i) 

 The annotated list of the birds, numbering 272 species and subspecies; 

 (2) 'A chronological list of the principal books and articles consulted 

 (4 pp. with 44 titles) ; 'A list of the manuscripts used in completing the 

 foregoing Notes' (2 pp. 16 titles) ; and (4) an index to the paper. 



Mr. Thompson's own copious field notes, supplemented by a large amount 

 of inedited matter, render the papera most welcome and important con- 

 tribution to the ornithology of what was a practically unworked field when 

 Mr. Thompson entered it. His list of 'The Birds of VVesterii Manitoba,' 

 published in 'The Auk' for 1SS8 (III, pp. 154-156,320-329, 453), has shorn 

 it of much of the novelty it would otherwise have presented, and pre- 

 pared us for the fuller exposition of the subject his brief annotations in 

 the former paper foreshadowed. Not only does each page add to out 

 knowledge of the distribution of the birds over the region in question, 

 but also of their habits and life history. Many of his own notes are given 

 as actual transcripts from his field jouiiial, and have thus the freshness 

 and inspiration of direct contact with nature. The inedited manuscripts 

 include important observations, often covering considerable periods in 

 the field, of a dozen or more well known Canadian ornithologists, many 

 of these documents having been originally prepared for and communicated 

 to the A. O. U. Committee on Bird Migration. In addition to these are 

 copious extracts from the unpublished 'Observations on Hudson's Bay' 

 by Thomas Hutchins, who for twenty-five years, prior to 17S0, was an 

 agent of the Hudson's Baj- Company. While the literary execution of 

 the work is not above criticism, many of the biographical notes have a 

 spirit and originality amply atoning for minor defects. — J. A. A. 



Canadian Bird Notes. — A paper of 25 pages, entitled 'Proceedings of 

 the Ornithological Sub-section of the Biological Section of the Canadian 

 Institute,'* for the months of January, February, and March, 1890, con- 

 tains no separate notes, published over the names of the contributors, 

 on the birds of the region about Toronto. They relate to uncommon vis- 

 itants, and the nesting of the rarer kitids, and include a large number of very 

 interesting records, which are thus conveniently brought together and 

 made readily accessible. Mr. W. Cross records and describes a hybrid 

 Pitiicola eiiiicleaiory. Carfodacus purpiircus; Dr. C. K. Clarke brings for- 

 ward very conclusive evidence of parasitism in the Black-billed Cuckoo 

 {Coccyzus erythropht/ialtniis) , citing three instances of its depositing its 



* Extract from Transactions of the Canadian Institute, 1890. 



