Recently published Ornithulogical JVorks. 381 



of plumage, including those in moult, which are perhaps 

 more needed nowadays than further consignments of birds 

 in full dress. 



34. Carriker on the Birds of Costa Rica. 



[An annotated List of the Birds of Costa Rica, including Coeos Island. 

 By M. A. Carriker, Jr. Reprinted from the 'Annals of the Carnegie 

 Museum,' vol. vi. no. 4, August 1910.] 



Our American fellow-workers in Ornithology, having well- 

 nigh exhausted the Avifauna o£ North America, have for 

 several years turned their attention to Central America 

 and the northern portion of South America, and have done 

 excellent work in both these countries. Costa Rica, which 

 Mr. Carriker has selected as his special field of study, is, 

 perhaps, the most attractive portion of the central neck 

 which joins these two portions of the Western Hemisphere. 

 Its riches in bird-life are unquestionable. Mr. Carriker's 

 " Jjist "' contains the names of more than 750 species as met 

 with in this little Republic, and it is quite evident, from what 

 he tells us, that by far the greater part of its wilds is abso- 

 lutely unexplored, so that many additions will still be made 

 to the series. But it must be recollected that Mr. Carriker 

 is a thorough believer in "subspecies," and places them 

 on an equality with species, which, of course, considerably 

 increases the number in his List. Mr. Carriker's "Prefatory 

 Note" commences with an interesting physical description 

 of the Republic, which is very mountainous and very densely 

 wooded. It is naturally separated into two slopes by the 

 high central range which divides the waters flowing into the 

 Atlantic from those that fall into the Pacific. He then gives 

 us some account of the collectors who have visited Costa 

 Rica, and a list of the titles of their papers. Nearly all are, 

 as would have been expected, Americans, and amongst these 

 are Mr. Carriker himself and Mr. Ridgway, the author of 

 the great work on the ' Birds of North and Middle 

 America.' 



Proceeding to the systematic portion of the memoir, we 

 find every one of the 753 species and subspecies enumerated 



SER. IX. VOL. V. 2d 



