48 



Recent I^itei-ature. 



Freke on the Birds of Amelia County, Virginia.* — Our knowl- 

 edge of the birds of Eastern Virginia is so largely inferential that Mr. 

 Freke has done good service in publishing the results of six years' obser- 

 vations in Amelia County, at a point "about thirty miles south of Rich- 

 mond." His list, which is freely annotated, includes 112 species. The 

 Barn Swallow is catalogued as a spring and fall migrant; the Tree Sparrow 

 (^Spizella ni07itana), as a rather uncommon winter visitor; the Field 

 Sparrow, as resident but most common in winter ; the Chipping Sparrow 

 as arriving from the south late in March and as leaving during November ; 

 the Song Sparrow as wintering but not breeding ; the Blue Grosbeak as 

 not uncommon during the latter part of April and early in May, but, 

 rather unaccountably, as not being found in summer; the Ruffed Grouse 

 as plentiful in the mountains but not common in the low country, although 

 a few regularly nest there in thick pine woods. 



The author has evidently fallen into some confusion regarding the 

 spotted-breasted Thrushes of the genus Tiirdus. Thus T. '■'■pallasi" is 

 characterized as a " resident species, apparently not migrating even in 

 the most partial manner." In view of our very definite knowledge of the 

 Hermit's distribution, such a statement by itself would be open to the 

 gravest suspicion, but when we add that Mr. Freke does not mention the 

 Wilson's, Olive-backed, or Wood Thrushes as occurring at any season, it 

 is quite plain that the Hermit (venes) did duty as the winter bird, the 

 Olive-backed or Wilson's Thrush filled the gap during the migrations, 

 and the Wood Thrush was the species that " builds its clay-lined nest in 

 the fork of some cedar or dogwood bush, at the height of eight or ten 

 feet from the ground, and there lays its blue eggs." The statement that 

 Dendrccca coronata "is one of the commonest warblers in the district, 

 and spends [a] great part of the year there," is not so easily explained ; 

 but despite the still more explicit assurance that " they come about the 

 end of April, or the beginning of May, and remain until very late in the 

 autumn," we cannot help thinking that some mistake was made in the 

 identification of the individuals seen in summer. 



Save in the last named instances, however, there is no reason to doubt 

 that the author's commendable practise of " verifying my observations, 

 as far as possible, by securing specimens and preserving skins " was con- 

 scientiously carried out, and his paper will be read with interest, not only 

 as an exponent of the ornithology of a previously unworked section, but 

 also as embodying a foreigner's pleasantly told impressions of many of 

 our familiar birds. — W. B. 



Langdon's Field Notes on Louisiana Birds. f — These notes com- 

 prise " a record of ornithological observations and collections made by 



* On birds observed in Amelia County, Virginia. By Percy E. Freke. Scientific 

 Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, Vol, III, Part III. [Read Feb. 21st, 1881.] 



t Field Notes on Louisiana Birds. By Dr. F. W. Langdon. Journ. Cincinnati Sec- 

 Nat. Hist., July, 1881, pp. 145-155. 



