8 Recent Literature. [January 



oscine Passeres are treated by Mr. Nelson, excepting the last one. The 

 Parus is rated as the var. grisescens of Sharp and Dresser, said to be "the 

 much grayer and somewhat larger Eastern Siberian form." occurring in 

 Alaska. If this determination holds, " P«r?<5 f/«c^«5" of the American 

 list becomes ^. cincttcs grisescens.* T\\& Motacilla ocularis^ well known 

 from Plover Bav, Siberia, and lately. found in California, is stated to have 

 been observed by Mr. L. M. Turner in the spring of 1881 on Atkha, the wes- 

 tern-most island of the Aleutian chain. The Asiatic Z-a«?«.«; crtstatus, though 

 not yet to be added to our fauna, comes near it, a specimen having been 

 found at Wrangel Island. The Asiatic Sylvia eversmanni is in similar 

 case, having been found by Mr. Nelson northeast of the Straits. 



Among wa.ter birds, as might be expected, Alaska has thus far yielded 

 a number of Old World forms. The Asiatic Golden Plover, Charadrins 

 fulvus of authors, was recorded some years ago. Mr, Nelson now speaks 

 of the Mongolian Plover, y^gialites viougolicus^ saying that "there is a 

 single record of this bird's occurrence in iVlaska." "Two specimens wei-e 

 procured on Choris Peninsula, in Kotzebue sound, during the summer of 

 1849." t This bird has thus far escaped inclusion in the North American 

 lists. The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Actodromas acuminata, an Asiatic 

 species, is an interesting addition to our Fauna lately made by Mr. Nelson 

 at Saint Michael's, Alaska, where it is said to be "abundant" during the 

 autumn. Decidedly the most interesting of this group, the Spoon-billed 

 Sandpiper, Eurynorhynchus pygmceus, though ox\\y obtained by Mr. 

 Nelson on the Siberian side, is now to be added unquestionably to the 

 American list. % Of this extremely rare and curious bird, of which perhaps 

 only about 30, mostly Indian, specimens are known to exist, Mr Nelson 

 was so fortunate as to secure a fine adult female, in breeding dress (Jime 26), 

 making the second known in this plumage — that figured in the ' Ibis,' as 

 below cited, having remained until now unique. As Mr. Harting has sur- 

 mised, the breeding place of the species has proven to be the northeast 

 Aixtic shore of Asia, whence it is but a step to reach the opposite con- 

 tinent. Mr. Nelson gives a full description of the plumages,, and also 

 figures his beautifid specimen. Such other Asiatic species as 'the Pacific 



* We have long had stereotyped in the plates of the new edition of the ' Key', under 

 name oi Parus hudsonicus evura, an Alaskan Tit, apparently before undescribed, resem- 

 bling P. hudsonicus, but larger, with longer tail (nearly 3.00 inches) and apparently 

 bearing the same relation to Imdsonicus proper that P. septenhioiialLs does to P. atri- 

 capillus. 



t See Harting, Ibis, 1870, p. 386; P. Z. S., 1871, p. in. 



+ It is recorded by Harting, P. Z. S., 1871, pp. in, 114, from Choris Peninsula, the 

 specimen said to have been procured there in 1849, and figured in the Ibis, 1869, p. 426, 

 PL XII, being supposed to be the only one known to exist in summer plumage. The 

 species was lately notefl by Ridgway as occurring at Point Barrow, in Bull. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 21, 1881, p. 85. Without reference to the earlier record here cited, we lately 

 included it in our Check List, 1882, p. 136, with some hesitation, as we understood that 

 the alleged Point Barrow occurrence was open to question. There seems, however, 

 no reason to doubt the actual occurrence of the species on the American side, and it 

 should take proper .place now as a 'North American ' bird. 



