Research and Publication 85 



extensive areas traversed by the Museum's expeditions. Fol- 

 lowing an historical account of previous work relating to the 

 ornithology of Colombia, and detailed itineraries of the eight 

 Museum expeditions (1910-1915) in that country, resulting in 

 the addition to the Museum's resources of nearly 16,000 birds 

 and 1,600 mammals, the author discusses the life zones and 

 faunas of Colombia, with special reference to the Colombian 

 Andes, to which the expeditionary work was mainly restricted. 

 The bird-life characteristic of each is listed, while a map in 

 colors shows their extent and relationships, and another colored 

 map shows the distribution of forested and unforested districts. 

 Part II (pp. 170-639) is systematic, and entitled "A Distribu- 

 tional List of the Birds Collected in Colombia by the American 

 Museum's Expeditions," numbering 1,285 species and sub- 

 species. This comprises not only a detailed record of localities 

 and number of specimens for each of the forms, but citations 

 of their previous records for Colombia, with often technical 

 comment on their status and relationships. An appendix con- 

 tains a "Gazetteer of Colombian Collecting Stations," with a 

 map showing their location, the routes followed by the Ameri- 

 can Museum's expeditions and the localities at which collec- 

 tions were made. This feature will be a boon to future work- 

 ers on Colombian zoology. This volume is thus an important 

 contribution not only to Colombian ornithology but to zoogeog- 

 raphy, and an enviable monument to the author who has de- 

 voted the last five years to South American ornithological ex- 

 ploration, greatly to the credit of the American Museum. 



Mr. Chapin's paper on "The Classification of the Weaver- 

 Birds," published in May, is the fourth prepared by him on 

 the ornithological results of the Congo Expedition. Other 

 ornithological papers from this department are Mr. Leo E. 

 Miller's field notes on the Cowbirds (Molothri) of Argentina, 

 and Curator Chapman's on Mr. R. H. Beck's collection of birds 

 from Santo Domingo (for the^Brewster-Sanford Collection), 

 describing three new species, with comment on others of special 

 interest. In this connection mention should be made of the 

 description of a new Albatross by Mr. Robert Cushman 

 Murphy, based on material in the Brewster-Sanford Collection. 

 Mr. George K. Cherrie has been engaged in the preparation of 



