84 



Recent Literature. [ Jamiaiy 



tional Museum) which Mr. Belding did not obtain, and by indicating 

 those in Mr. Belding's lists met with by Mr. Xantus. "The total number 

 of species amounts to 130. . . . Of the species collected by Xantus 34 

 were not found by Mr. Belding, who, however, obtained or observed 39 

 species not represented in Xantus's collections." Mr. Belding's two papers 

 form an important contribution to the subject of the distribution of the 

 birds of the southern portion of the peninsula of Lower California, show- 

 ing that the bird-fauna is more closely allied to that of the United States 

 than with that of the adjoining portion of Mexico. — ^J. A. A. 



Ridgway and Nutting on Costa Rican Birds.* — The collection reported 

 upon was made partly at Volcan de Irazu and partly at San Jose. At the 

 former locality t^2 species were obtained, including five examples of the 

 hitherto very rare Juiico vulcanic, which was here found to be abundant, 

 and 33 from the latter. There are brief field-notes by the collector and 

 technical notes on a few species by Mr. Ridgway. — ^J. A. A. 



Brewster on the "Birds and Fethered Fowles" of Morton's 'New English 

 Canaan.' t — Mr. Adams,* in reprinting Thomas Morton's 'New English 

 Canaan' (published originally in 1637), with editorial notes, has called 

 to his aid the services of a number of specialists in diiferent fields, and 

 has carefully collated therewith the works of Morton's contempora- 

 ries, notably those of Wood, Josselyn, and Higginson. The technical 

 notes on the birds, by Mr. Brewster, form an excellent commentary on the 

 species mentioned by Morton, while the editor has added parallel passages 

 from the writings of the early authors above named, thus bringing to- 

 gether all the important matter relating to birds contained in these early 

 accounts of New England. Morton's 'New English Canaan,' as thus 

 admirably edited, includes nearly everj'thing of interest bearing upon 

 the natural history of New England contained in these early records, and 

 is thus of special value in its bearing upon New England ornithology of 

 the seventeenth century. The work is limited to 250 copies, and in typog- 

 raphy and paper is a noteworthy specimen of book-making. — J. A. A. 



Gill's Record of Ornithological Progress in iSSi.j: — Dr. Gill here gives 

 a partial bibliography of noteworthy papers and works, and a synopsis 

 of about half-a-dozen memoirs, including Ridgway's 'Nomenclature of 

 North American Birds,' of Marsh's paper on the characters of Archceop- 

 teryx, and of his account oi Laofteryx priscus, a fossil bird from the Upper 

 Jurassic of Wyoming Territory. — ]. A. A*. 



* Catalogue of a Collection of birds made in the Interior of Cost Rica liy Mr. C. C. 

 Nutting. By Robert Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 1882, pp. 493-502. Feb. 28, 1883. 



t The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton. With Introductory Matter and 

 Notes by Charles Francis Adams, Jr. Boston : Published by the Prince Society. 1883. 

 Sm. 4to. pp. vi -|-38i. — Chap. IV. Of Birds and Fethered Fowles, pp. 189-199. With 

 notes by William Brewster and tlie Editor. 



J. Record of Scientific Progress for 1881. Zoology. By Theodore Gill. Smith- 

 sonian Report, 1881 (1883), pp. 408-498. Birds, pp. 481-490. 



