Recent Literature. 
2 3 9 
and along the ridges in the western part of the State (B. Horsford).” 
But these elevated places are both outlying spurs of the Canadian region 
and many strictly Canadian species, such as the Black Snowbird, regular- 
ly breed there. The occurrence, of nests at Eastford, Connecticut, is 
certainly hard to understand, but the explanation may probably be found 
in some peculiar feature of the locality where they were taken. At all 
events there are at present no sufficient reasons for regarding them as 
other than exceptional examples. 
Siurus ncevius . — In the ‘‘Birds of the Colorado Valley ” (p. 301) Dr. 
Coues asserted that the Northern Water Thrush “ breeds in the greater 
part if not the whole of its North American range,” and in the present 
work this view is substantially reiterated in the following terms : “ Being 
a species of the widest distribution in North America, the Water Thrush 
is found in all suitable situations in New England, where it is a summer 
resident, and more or less abundant according to circumstances in no way 
connected with geographical or faunal areas.” Waiving for the present 
an v discussion of the question at large, we will confine ourselves to a 
consideration of the character of the bird’s presence in New England. 
Upon examining the records it appears that no identified nest has ever 
been found south of the limits of the Canadian Fauna. In the “Catalogue 
of the Birds of Springfield” Mr. Allen stated that “apparently a few 
breed here,” but as he has reversed this opinion in his later “ List of the 
Birds of Massachusetts,” the presumption is that there was some mistake 
about the earlier observations. Mr. Merriam surmises that “ possibly 
a few occasionally remain and breed in Connecticut.” All the other authors 
(save Minot, whose testimony on questions of this kind is inadmissible) 
agree in considering the Water Thrush as a spring and fall migrant in 
the three southern New England States. Going by the records alone, 
Dr. Coues will find it difficult to maintain his position, while if the un- 
written testimony on the subject were produced we fancy that it would go 
very strongly against his view of the case. Certainly there are no present 
grounds for believing that the Northern Water Thrush breeds at all in 
New England south of the Canadian Fauna. 
Collurio borealis . — The breeding of the Northern Shrike anywhere 
south of the Fur Countries is at present so much* a matter of uncertainty, 
owing to the recently developed fact that the Loggerhead has frequently 
come in where he did not belong and wilfully muddled the records, that 
we cannot but think that Dr. Coues would have been wiser had he avoided 
taking any positive stand in this much disputed question. The comparison 
of its presence with that of the Black Snowbird, is manifestly inappro- 
priate, while the prophecy that “it will doubtless be found to breed in 
the highest parts of Massachusetts ” can scarcely be warranted by any 
of the known facts. 
Taken for all in all, however, “ New England Bird Life” is remarkably 
free from errors of every kind : we doubt if there is another outsider who 
could have come among us and done so well, but it must not be over- 
looked that Mr. Purdie helped “ in collating and sifting the scattered 
