Recoit I^iterature. 5 ^ 



According to this estimate some four thousand individuals were intro- 

 duced." This great outlay was borne by the "Acclimation Society of Cin- 

 cinnati" and we believe that most of the birds were turned out in the neigh- 

 borhood of that city ; but, according to Dr. Langdon, the experiment has 

 practically proved a failure. 



If the present instalment of "Zoological Miscellany " may be taken as 

 a fair criterion of future issues, its favorable reception by naturalists is a 

 matter of no uncertainty, and under Dr. Langdon's able editing we look 

 to see its popularity widely extended, even though its field be restricted to 

 the Ohio Valley.— W. B. 



Hoffman on the Birds of Nevada.* — In the present paper Dr. 

 Iloftman has done good service to ornithology by tabulating the two hun- 

 dred and fifty species and varieties of birds which he considers are en- 

 titled to a place in the avi-fauna of Nevada. The list is based partly upon 

 the writer's personal experience in the field during the season of 1S71, but 

 mainly upon the previoush' published reports of Mr. Ridgway. Mr. Hen- 

 shaw and Dr. Yarrow, and Dr. J. G. Cooper. It hence partakes largely 

 of the nature of a compilation, although the author's original notes are 

 by no means few or uninteresting. 



The paper begins with a pertinent chapter entitled "Remarks on the 

 distribution of vegetation in Nevada as affecting that of the avi-ffiuna" 

 and closes with a bibliographical list of the chief publications relating to 

 the region considered, and an excellent map of the state. 



The list proper is freely annotated and the numerous and often extended 

 quotations are always apt and interesting. The work, generally, has been 

 so well done that we find few points open to adverse criticism. There is 

 however an evident tendency on the author's part to swell the number of 

 species and varieties by the enrollment of many which have been taken 

 or observed near the borders of the state but not as yet actually within 

 its limits. We are aware that Dr. Hoffman has some high authority for 

 adopting this course but we are none the less inclined to deprecate it, 

 believing that it is time enough to catalogue a species when it has actually 

 been found within the limits treated. In the present case, however, it must 

 be admitted that there are good grounds for supposing that most of these 

 extra-limitals will eventually turn up in Nevada. 



Dr. Hoftman's paper ranks easily among the higher class of publications 

 to which it belongs and should find a place in the hands of every working 

 ornithologist. — W. B. 



* Annotated List of the Birds of Nevada. By W. J. Hoffman, M. D. Bull. U. S. 

 Gaol, and Geogr. Survey of the Territories, Vol. VI, No. 2, Sept. 19, 1881, pp. 203-256, 

 and map. 



