Recent Literature. 175 



cerned, on Dr. Jordan's " Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern 

 United States," and Dr. Coues's " Key to North American Birds." There 

 are also " apt quotations " from the last-named author's " Birds of the Colo- 

 rado Valley " and " Birds of the Northwest," from Thoreau, Burroughs, and 

 Emerson, selected with a view to awakening interest among horticulturists 

 in the general subject, aud in the practical relation of birds to agriculture. 

 While well adapted to the object in view, we note little in Dr. Brayton's 

 paper that is new to ornithologists, but much that is given from good 

 authorities. Short notes are added relative to .the abundance, habits, and 

 season of occurrence of the 306 species enumerated, followed by special 

 lists of those which breed in Northwestern Indiana, of those which merely 

 pass through the State during their migrations, of the winter visitants and 

 residents, etc. The paper closes with an index to the names of the genera 

 and higher groups, with their derivations, a " glossary " of the specific 

 names, and an index of English names. In short, Dr. Brayton's paper can- 

 not well fail of greatly promoting the objects for which it was prepared. 

 — J. A. A. 



Mearns's Birds of the Hudson Highlands. — The first part of Mr. 

 Mearns's important contribution to the ornithology of Southern New York * 

 appeared early in 1879, and three later instalments carry the list through 

 the genus Loxia, some forty pages being devoted to the 71 species thus far 

 treated. The rarer species are frequently noticed at considerable length, 

 and often to common ones much space is allotted. While the writer draws 

 mainly from his own expei-ience, he occasionally indulges in quotations 

 from other authors, his notices of some of the species amounting to nearly 

 complete biographies. His own notes, even when relating to some of our 

 best known birds, are replete with new information attractively presented, 

 few lists having appeared which oflfer so much that is really a contribu- 

 tion to the subject in a field where so little really new is to be looked for. 

 Two important features of the paper are the dates of arrival and departure, 

 which generally cover a period of four to six years, and the measure- 

 ments, which are commonly averages based on series numbering from about 

 fifteen to upward of sixty specimens of each species. The future instal- 

 ments of Mr. Mearns's highly praiseworthy memoir may well be antici- 

 pated with interest. — J. A. A. 



Harvie-Brown and Cordeaux's Report on the Migration 

 OP BiRDS.t — Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Cordeaux, two well-known 



* A List of the Birds of the Hudson Highlands, with Annotations. By 

 Edgar A. Mearns. Bull. Essex Institute, Vol. X, pp. 166-179 (Introduction 

 and Tardus migratorius to Partos atricajnllus, inclusive). May, 1879 ; Vol. XI, 

 pp. 43-52 [Sitta carolinensis to Dcndrosca ccerulescens), June, 1879 ; pp. 154- 

 168 (Dendrceca coerulea to Mi/iodiodes mitrata), Oct., 1879 ; pp. 189-204 (J/. 

 canadenisis to Loxia curvirostra), April, 1880. 



t Report on the Migration of Birds in the Autumn of 1879. By John A. 

 Harvie-Brown and John Cordeaux. Zoologist, May, 1880, pp. 161-204. Also 

 ejiarate, pp. 44. 



