174 Becc7it Literature. 



forms an important contribution to geographical ornithology. About 225 

 North American species are enumerated, a dozen or more of which, how- 

 ever, are given as represented in Europe or Asia by closely allied rather 

 than identical species, while 16 others are considered as specifically identi- 

 cal, but as represented on the two continents by different subspecies or 

 geographical races. Nearly 200 are considered as strictly identical. Of 

 these about two fifths may be regarded as circumpolar, one fifth as Old 

 World or " Palajarctic," and two fifths as American. Quite a number of 

 the Old World species, however, are so numerously represented either in 

 Greenland or Alaska as to be entirely removed from the category of strag- 

 glers ; the others are species that have occurred, so far as known, only a 

 few times in Arctic America (a number only once), and generally only 

 in Greenland or Alaska, Greenland coming in for the largest shai-e. Of 

 about 100 species that may be considered as merely stragglers from 

 one continent to the other, fully four fifths are North American. This 

 brings strongly into relief the well-known fact of the much more frequent 

 occurrence of North American birds in Europe than of European ones in 

 North America ; but if the number of individual instances be considered, 

 the proportion of North American birds taken in Europe is far greater 

 than the ratio of species would seem to indicate. This preponderance in 

 favor of North American birds is doubtless due, as is usually believed, to 

 their transportation eastward by the prevailing westerly winds, or the 

 great rotatory storms, which so uniformly move from the west eastward, 

 from North America toward Europe. 



The remarks relating to the species are arranged in two columns, headed 

 respectively " America" and " Europe," and embrace a concise statement 

 of the habitat of each species, and the frequency of their extralimital 

 occurrence. The characters that distinguish the geographical varieties 

 of circumpolar species are also briefly given. In nearly all cases, authori- 

 ties are cited on which the author's statements rest, and are in the main, 

 it may be added, the latest and best. Despite a few typographical errors 

 in the orthography of personal and geographical names (as " Harding " 

 and "Hasting "for Harting, " Michegan " for Michigan, etc.), the paper 

 gives evidence of careful preparation, and admirably fills a long-standing 

 gap in ornithological literature. — J. A. A. 



Brayton's Catalogue of the Birds of Indiana. — Dr. Bray- 

 ton's Catalogue * is intended as a " practical hand-book " of the birds of 

 Indiana, and seems well calculated to meet this requirement. It is avow- 

 edly a compilation, prepared, as the author tells us, " on only two weeks' 

 notice," and is based largely, so far as the keys and descriptions are con- 



* A Catalogue of the Birds of Indiana, with Keys and Descriptions of the 

 Groups of greatest Interest to the Horticulturist. By Alembert W. Brayton, 

 B. S., M. D. Transactions of the Indiana Horticultural Society for 1879, pp. 

 89 - 166. Indianapolis, 1880. 



