144 Recent Literature. 



he has here worked up the synonymy of the species, and that he will spare 

 no printer's ink which may be wanted for the full exposition and discus- 

 sion of synonymatic matters, giving us his processes as well as his results ; 

 so that, being once done, the matter may be done for once and all. The 

 present writer's interest in the subject yields only to the cordiality of his 

 wishes for the most successful accomplishment of the author's work. — 

 Elliott Coues. 



Sennett's Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Kio Grande, 

 Texas. — Mr. Sennett's contribution on one hundred and fifty-one species 

 of birds observed on the southern border of Texas * is a paper of more 

 than ordinary interest for one of its kind, the descriptions in many cases 

 being almost a biography of the species, a number being those of which 

 we have had but little or no previous information, and it covers ground 

 quite new ornithologically, or at least not recently worked over. The 

 main collecting field extended from a short distance above Hidalgo, on 

 the Rio Grande, to Point Isabel on the coast, near the mouth of the river, 

 a distance of three hundred miles by water and one hundred by road. 

 The period covered was from the latter part of March to the middle of 

 May, or just about two months. Mr. Sennett certainly collected tmder 

 many annoyances, but intensely hot days, and niimbers of centipedes, 

 rattlesnakes, tarantulas, fleas, woodticks, and red bugs did not prevent 

 his securing some five hundred birds, one of which is new to science, 

 namely, Sennett's Warbler {Panda nigrilora). 



The paper is most carefully commentated by Dr. Coues, who gives 

 detailed descriptions of the plumages, with pertinent remarks respecting 

 the above-named Warbler, Molothrus mneus (our new Cowbird, with a red 

 eye), Myiarchus crinitus erythrocercus (which is the variety of the Great- 

 crested Flycatcher occurring, and not cooperi or cinerascens), Amazilia 

 cerviniventris (the Rufous-bellied Hummer), Glaucidium femigineum (both 

 the second examjjles taken within our limits), and JEchtnoptila albifrons 

 (the White-fronted Pigeon), as also the characters of this genus, which 

 the doctor proposes for the group of Pigeons to which albifrons belongs. 



The Yellow-throated Warbler obtained is typical Dendroeca dominica 

 albilora, which. Dr. Coues remarks, "seenfs to prevail, if it be not the only 

 form, in the Mississippi Basin and Texas." Mr. Sennett got a single 

 specimen of the Missouri Skylark, and saw others ; interesting, as Coues 

 says, " on account of the locality, which is the southernmost on record." 

 The Quails are true subspecies texana. The skins of Peuccea casshn are 

 valuable as proving by their plumage that the species is a good one. A 

 specimen of the Painted Finch or Nonpareil was shot, which, thovigh in 



* Notes on the Ornithology of the Lower Rio Grande, Texas, from Obser- 

 -vations made during the Season of 1877. By George B. Sennett. Edited, with 

 .Annotations, by Dr. Elliott Cones, U. S. A. Bull. U.S. Geol. and Geograph. 

 Survey, Vol. IV, pp. 1-66, February 5, 1878. 



