386 



Recent Literature. [Ortolier 



The reductions from the list of 1881 number only two, namely : Chen 

 albutus of the 'Nomenclature' is now made a synonym of Chen hyperboreus., 

 and Brachyrhamfhus brachypterus is similarly referred to Synthlibor- 

 hamphus antiquus. — ^J. A. A. 



Coues and Prentiss's Avifauna Columbiana. — The title* of this inter- 

 esting brochure, although explicit, fails to fully imply the scope of the 

 work, 4 pages of which are devoted to the 'Literature of the Subject,' 17 

 to the ' Location and Topography of the District,' 5 to the ' General 

 Character of the Avifauna,' 78 to the ' Annotated List of the Birds,' 8 to 

 a 'Summary and Recapitulation,' and 3 to the 'Game Laws of the Dis- 

 trict,' following which is a full index. The 100 woodcuts, illustrating 

 structural characters of the birds, are mainly from previous publications by 

 the senior author. Three of the maps — colored, and drawn to the scale of 

 3 5-9 inches to the mile — illustrate minutely the topography of the three 

 regions into which the District is divided, while the fourth is a general 

 map of the District and immediately contiguous counti-y. 



The original 'List of the Birds of the District of Columbia,' etc., pub- 

 lished in 1862, contained 226 species, only one of which proves to have 

 been included erroneously. The additions made in the twenty-twb years 

 which have intervened number 23, making the total number of the pres- 

 ent list 248. In rewriting the list the authors, besides incorporating the 

 additional species, have expanded their annotations about four-fold, through 

 fuller notices of the habits of the species, and in noting the changes in 

 the bird-fauna resulting from the growth of a large city. The subject in 

 general is treated not only with great fulness, but is very attractively set 

 forth, and in general plan forms an excellent model of what a faunal list 

 should be. The preliminary matter includes an account of 'Rail Shooting 

 on the Anacostia River Marshes,' illustrated with two plates. In the 

 'Recapitulation,' the species are arranged in five categories, from which it 

 appears that 47 are permanent residents, 46 winter residents, and 66 sum- 

 mer visitors, while 49 occur only as spring and autumn migrants, and 40 

 as very rare or accidental visitors. — ^J. A. A. 



Ridgway on Rare Neotropical Birds. f — ■ The species considered are 

 Harporhynchus ocellatus Scl., Pyranga erythrocephalus (Sw.), Zono- 

 trichia quinquestriata Scl. & Salv., Contopus ochraceus Scl. & Salv. , and 

 Panyptila cayennensis (Gm.), about which there are brief remarks re- 

 specting their affinities. Mr. Ridgway is inclined to restrict the genus 



* Bulletin of the United States National Museum, No. 26. Avifauna Columbiana : 

 being a list of Birds ascertained to inhabit the District of Columbia, with the times of 

 'arrival and departure of such as are non-residents, and brief notices of habits, etc. 

 The Second Edition, revised to date and entirely rewritten. By Elliott Coues, M. D., 

 Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy in the National Medical College, etc., and D. Webster 

 Prentiss, A.M., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the National 

 Medical College, etc. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1883. 8vo., pp. 133, 

 100 woodcuts, frontispiece, and 4 folded maps. 



t Notes upon some Rare Species of Neotropical Birds. By Robert Ridgway, 

 Curator Department of Birds, United States National Museum. Ibis, Oct. 1883, 

 PP- 399-401. 



