50 Recent Literatttre. 



the pages of his work is enough to show that these opportunities have been 

 sadly neglected. Important records are given without dates and often with 

 only a vague or inferential assignment of locality, while improbable state- 

 ments and palpable errors are of frequent occurrence. In short, it is only 

 too evident that Mr. Krider's "Notes" are the offspring of a fading memory 

 rather than the carefully kept data of a systematic worker. Moreover, the 

 author writes from a standpoint at least twenty-five years behind the times, 

 and consequently ignores all the various developments affecting classifica- 

 tion and the relationship of allied species and races. From all this chaff 

 it is of course possible to separate some sound grain, but most of the 

 really important records were published long ago by Turnbull, Cassin, and 

 other writers. Of the literary execution of the present work we can say 

 nothing favorable. It is to be regretted that the author could not have 

 recognized his unfitness in this respect, and, as on a former occasion, 

 have secured the services of a competent editor.— W. B. 



Langdon's Zoological Miscellany.* — In the last issue of its well- 

 known "Journal," the Cincinnati Society of Natural History publishes the 

 first of a series of articles entitled "Zoological Miscellany," the aim and 

 scope of which are thus tersely defined by the editor, Dr. F. W. Lang- 

 don : — - 



" Under the above caption it is proposed to bring together from time to 

 time such facts as may be deemed worthy of record, respecting the struc- 

 ture, the life history, or the geographical distribution of the various spe- 

 cies of animals constituting the Ohio Valley Fauna." 



The part before us includes sections on mammalogy, ornithology, herpe- 

 tology,' ichthyology, conchology, and entomology. In general terms, it may 

 be said that all of these are well sustained, but in the present connection we 

 have to do only with the one relating to birds. This contains a number of in- 

 teresting notes, a large proportion of which are from the editor's pen, al- 

 though a few are signed by Mr. E. R. Qiiick, Mr. A. W. Butler, Dr. Howard 

 E. Jones, and other more or less well-known names. Most of these notes 

 relate chiefly to the local presence or distribution of certain birds within 

 the Ohio Valley, but one or two possess a wider interest. Among the lat- 

 ter we notice an announcement by Dr. Langdon of the detection of the 

 Oak-woods Sparrow {^Peuccea cestivalis illinoensis, Ridgway) near Bards- 

 town, Nelson County, Kentucky, "about one hundred miles southwest 

 of Cincinnati." The specimen was taken April 2S, 1S77, by Mr. C. W. 

 Beckham, who referred it to Dr. Langdon for identification. 



In addition to his numerous notes, the editor contributes a short but 

 useful paper on the "Introduction of European Birds." From this it 

 appears that "during the years 1S72, '73 and '74. about nine thousand 

 dollars were expended in the purchase and importation of European birds, 

 their average cost to import being about four dollars and fifty cents a pair. 



* Zoological Miscellany, edited by Dr. F. W. Langdon. Jour. Cincinnati See. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. IV, Dec, 1881, pp. 336-346. 



