412 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE BIRDS OF MISSOURI.* 
T HIS work on the ornithology of the Missouri region is another result of 
the Geological Survey of the Territories under the charge of Dr. F. V. 
Hayden. The author, Dr. E. Coues, has been long engaged on the subject, 
and the basis of the present volume is mainly an unpublished report, pre- 
pared in 1862, on the collection of birds made by the naturalists of the 
expedition under Captain Reynolds, as well as that obtained in previous 
explorations conducted in 1856-57 in the region of the Upper Missouri and 
Yellowstone Rivers. This work of nearly 800 pages is not a mere catalogue 
of birds, but contains a very complete synonymy of the different species, 
with references to the observations of previous authors, and to the expedi- 
tions when the birds were obtained. The habitat and general distribution 
of each species, and the course and period of their migrations, and their 
nesting and wintering, are generally indicated. Besides which, there is a 
critical examination of the various nominal species and varieties established 
upon conditions of immaturity and dependent on climatic variation, a good 
example of which is found under the description of the hairy woodpecker, 
page 280, and of descent, with modification, under the grey-headed snow- 
bird, page 143. Interesting and instructive accounts of the habits of some 
birds are frequently introduced, such as the Missouri skylark, the clay- 
coloured sparrow, blue jay, yellow-billed cuckoo, burrowing owl. The 
physical features of the Missouri water-shed are somewhat various j much of 
the western portions are mountainous, and extensive areas are cut up by the 
mauvaises terres , or 11 bad lands.” It results from these physical conditions 
that the avi-fauna is not rich ; there is no single species absolutely confined 
to it, still several abundant and generally diffused species may be said to be 
characteristic of it. The great number of species treated of in this volume is 
due to accessions from both the eastern and western faunal provinces, as 
well as those species of general diffusion over the continent, as most Raptores 
and Lammellirostres. The genera are arranged under their respective 
orders, and many copious and valuable notes from the observations of 
Messrs. Trippe, Allen, Gentry, and others enrich the volume, so as to render 
the work not only useful to European naturalists but to American ornitholo- 
gists, as forming a hand-book to the ornithology of the region drained by 
the Missouri River and its tributaries. 
GEOLOGY OF MISSOURI. t 
T HIS report, by Mr. G. C. Broadhead, of nearly 800 pages, is of a very 
practical character, and contains the result of the field-work in the 
State of 1873-74. The plan for the past year having been to look after those 
items of the greatest interest and economic value, and to present the facts in 
* u Birds of the North-west.” By Dr. E. Coues. United States Geo- 
logical Survey of the Territories. Miscellaneous Publications, No. 3. 
Washington: 1874. 
t “ Report of the Geological Survey of the State of Missouri.” By G. C. 
Broadhead, State Geologist. Jefferson City : 1874. 
