384 



Recent Literature. fOttubcr 



liuii;in;i gives 305 species as the number thus far actually known to occur 

 in the State, and a 'Hypothetical List' of 79 species, "which have been 

 taken in neighboring States, or whose known range seems to include 

 Indiana." Both lists have evidently been prepared with great care, and 

 are very satisfactorily annotated, the previously published records of the 

 capture of the rarer species within the State being duly cited. The an- 

 notations throw much new light on the distribution of many of the spe- 

 cies within the State. The introduction gives the origin of the present 

 Catalogue, a brief account of the leading topographical features of the 

 State, a transcript of 'An Act for the Protection of Birds, their Nests and 

 Eggs' (closely modelled after the New York law), passed in March last by 

 the State Legislature, and due acknowledgments for aid in the prepara- 

 tion of the work. Tliis is followed by a 'Bibliography' of Indiana orni- 

 thology (pp. 10-14), and a list is also given (pp. 1 17-1 19) of persons con- 

 tributing notes used in the preparation of the Catalogue. The author 

 also states that through the cooperation of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief 

 of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, he was "enabled to examine the mi- 

 gration reports, covering the State of Indiana for a series of years." The 

 illustrations consist of a large number of cuts from Coues's 'Key to North 

 American Birds,' secured through the courtesy of the publishers of that 

 well-known work. A very full index (pp. 121-135) very fittingly closes 

 this admirable and exceedingly welcome exposition of Indiana orni- 

 tiiology. — ^J. A. A. 



Colburn and Morris's "Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachu- 

 setts.'* — This briefly annotated list of 212 species forms a convenient 

 icsume of the bird life of the region considered. The list "contains the 

 names of the birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, so far as 

 they are known to the authors, either by personal observation or from 

 consulting the works of the ornithologists who have described the birds 

 of New England"; but as these works are not cited in the annotations, 

 it is not always evident whether the statements made rest on the author- 

 ity of the authors of the present paper or on previously published records. 

 Hence it is sometimes difficult to distinguish wheth-er or not a record or 

 statement is here for the first time recorded. As the authors state that 

 the list was prepared "for their own use, and not for general publica- 

 tion," perhaps we should be lenient in our criticism, yet we can hardly 

 refrain from calling attention to one or two points, in the interest of 

 sound work. We regret to see that some species are admittedly included 

 that may, on "further observation," require "elimination." These are 

 presumably given on the authority of others, and probably on previously 

 published records, but unless so stated in the list the responsibility rests 

 on its authors. Some of the omissions from the list are hard to explain, 



*The Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. By Wm. W. Colburn and 

 Robert O. Morris. 16 mo. pp. 24. Springfield, Mass., 1891. (Privately printed.) 



