1877.] Recent Literature. 617 
cinnati, Ohio,’ by Mr. Frank W. Langdon. This carefully prepared list 
numbers two hundred and seventy-nine species, nearly all of which are 
known to have been taken at the locality indicated. The few included 
on the basis of their general known range are significantly distinguished 
as being thus included, and embrace only such species as are quite likely 
to be met with at the locality in question. 
A paper on The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks,? by Rooseveldt 
and Minot, forming a list of ninety-seven species, with short notes re- 
specting their relative abundance, gives us our first formal list of the 
birds of this interesting region. 
Among other recent papers relating to American ornithology may be 
mentioned a paper by Mr. Robert Ridgway, on The Birds of Guadalupe 
Island, discussed with reference to the present Genesis of Species.’ 
This paper deals especially, as its title indicates, with the origin of the 
few insular forms which make up the avian fauna of this small island, 
and discusses the relationship of these forms to the birds of the adja- 
cent main-land. The species thus far well known from this island, sit- 
uated about two hundred and twenty miles southwest from San Diego, 
number only eight, and their affinities are almost entirely, as would 
A 
* 
_ be expected, with those of Western North America. Yet they are so 
as specifically distinct. They all differ somewhat similarly from their 
nearest main-land allies in three principal features, namely, in (1) “ in- 
creased size of the bill and feet, (2) shorter wings and tail, and (3) 
darker colors.” These facts point emphatically to the directly modify- 
ing influence of the peculiar conditions of environment to which they are 
subjected, and, taken with other now well-known facts, lead to the con- 
clusion that the present differentiation of species and subspecies is mainly 
the result of the immediate action of climatic and other surrounding 
conditions. 
Ina paper entitled Corrections of Nomenclature in the Genus Siurus,* 
Dr - Coues, after a few. preliminary remarks respecting the general sub- 
Ject of nomenclature, shows clearly the necessity for a change of name in ` 
two of our three species of wagtail thrushes, and gives an exhaustive 
table of synonymy for each species. 
NorTH American Fur-Bearine ANIMALS. — In the August num- 
ber of the NATURALIST (Vol. ix., p. 505) was printed a circular, pre- 
pared by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., and issued from the Surgeon-Gen- 
eral’s office, in relation to a work in preparation, to be entitled History of 
1 A Catalogue of the Birds of the Vicinity of Cincinnati, with Notes. By FRANK 
W. Lanenon, 8vo, pp-18. Salem, Mass., Naturalist’s Agency. 1877. 
* The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, New York. By THEO- 
pre RooseveELDT, Jr., and H. D. Minor. 8vo, pp. 4- 
: Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, vol. xi., pp. 53-58, July, 1877. 
Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, vol. xi., pp. 29-34, April, 1877. 
