Eecent Literature. 35 



ninety-one species, with brief notes on their relative abundance, times of 

 migration, etc. The list bears evidence of trustworthiness, and we 

 would gladly see it reproduced in a more permanent and accessible form. 

 It appears to be a reprint of Mr. H. G. Fowler's list in " Forest and 

 Stream" (Vols. VI and VII, 1876), with the addition of quite a number 

 of species, and additional observations on others. In this list we find 

 Anthus ludovicianus recorded as breeding (" a /ew rewKxm and breed") \i\ 

 New York, the authority being Mr. J. B. Gilbert, of Penn Yan, Yates 

 County, New York. We know not as yet on what evidence the record 

 of so improbal)le an occurrence is made, but would suggest that it certainly 

 needs strong backing, the locality being climatically and topographically 

 so wholly unlike that usually chosen by this exceedingly boreal species as 

 its breeding station. In a later issue of the same paper (September 6, 

 1877), Mr. Rathbun adds further remarks on Dendroeca ccerulea, and Dr. 

 T. J. Wilson on sixteen species, including a few species not given by Mr. 

 Rathbun. — J. A. A. 



Brown on the Distribution op Birds in North-European Russia 

 — During the last j'ear (1877) Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown has contributed 

 a series of important papers upon the distril)ution of birds in " North 

 Russia,"* in which all information at present accessible is epitomized in a 

 series of tables through the use of arbitrary signs or " symbols." The first 

 paper relates to the region of the Lower Petchora, explored by himself and 

 Mr. Seebohm, and is supplementary to a joint paper by these gentlemen 

 published in the "Ibis" for 1876 (January, April, July, and October). 

 Parts II and III treat of the general range of the birds in European 

 Russia, north of the parallels of 58° to 60°, in Avhich are presented in tab- 

 ulated form the records relating to this extensive region. The area con- 

 sidered embraces (contrary to what the above-given titles might imply^ 

 only that portion of the Russian Empire west of the Ural Mountains, and 

 north of about the latitude of St. Petersburg. This is divided latitudi- 

 nally, near the parallel of 64° 30', into two regions, a northern and a 

 southern, and these are again each divided longitudinally into three re- 

 gions. By means of a system of symbols the range of each of the two 

 hundred and eighty-one positively identified or authentic species is given 

 in tables, in such a way as to indicate the abundance or scarcity of the 

 species in each of the several districts. This system of presentation is 

 perhaps as satisfactory as any that can be devised short of graphic repre- 



* On the Distribution of Birds in North Russia. Part I. On the Distribution 

 of Birds of the Lower Petchora, in Northeast Russia. Part IL Longitudinal Dis- 

 tribution of Species North of 64° 30' N. lat., or the Northern Division. Part III. 

 On the Longitudinal Distribution of the Birds of the Southern Division (be- 

 tween 64^° N. and 58°- 60° N.)- By J. A. Harvie Brown. Annals and Maga- 

 zine of Natural History, April, July, and September, 1877. 



