REVIEWS. 367 
has demonstrated. In some cases indeed, Floridan forms furnish 
exactly intermediate links, as when the Floridan Thryothorus 
grades from Ludovicianus proper into Berlandieri ; and again there 
are cases, like that of the Quail, where the Floridan form, although 
unnamed, is as different from average Northern samples as Q. 
Texanus is. Promulgation of data so pertinent to the general 
question of variation in feral animals is a service of great moment 
to ornithology, and Mr. Allen’s careful handling of the subject 
elevates his “ Winter Birds of East Florida” to a place that no 
mere annotated catalogue, however good, could claim. 
Still keeping away from the main issue, we will note certain 
discussions, some relevant and others not so, that the Floridan 
list affords. rams somewhat celebrated ‘* Sacred Vulture” 
certainly needed the overhauling it gets; Mr. Allen finds it a 
myth, based upon Sarcorhamphus papa, with a dash of Polyborus 
tharus, and an infusion of Bartram’s imagination ; which is pretty 
much as was to have been expected. The origin of the domestic 
turkey is handled at some length. After fusing M. Mexicana with 
M. gallopavo, Mr. Allen attempts to refute LeConte’s and Baird’s 
theories, arguing that the domestic bird was reimported from 
Europe, whither it was originally carried from Mexico. Among 
other discussions, are those upon the species of Cathartes, Buteo, 
Parus, Passerculus, Quiscalus and Turdus, in which the writer 
pleads for a much less number of species than are usually ad- 
mitted, and presents some astonishing lists of synonyms. 
have no other objection to these disquisitions, than that they si 
to nothing tangible, for they seem to us to be merely a recapitula- 
tion of what was before known of the close resemblance, and wide 
limits of variation, of the species in question; the opinion that 
Mr. Allen offers of their specific identity being, of course, a fore- 
gone conclusion from his premises. It seems to us unnecessary 
for Mr. Allen to raise the Hylocichla question for the third time, 
merely to repeat, with some expansion, the remarks that appeared 
in his “Birds of Massachusetts” and “Birds of Iowa”; no good 
can result, we conceive, from rehearsal of items already the com- 
mon property of ornithologists, or from reiteration of individual 
opinion. 
The many extensive and elaborate tables of measurements that 
enrich the ‘ Winter Birds of Florida,’ and show not only the dis- 
crepancy in size between Floridan and Northern birds, but also the 
