24 
BULLETIN OF THE NUTT ALL 
to one genus, for which he adopts the name Stercorarius as being the only 
proper and tenable one. Two of these species belong to the Southern 
Hemisphere, the other four to the Northern, all of which latter occur in 
the boreal parts of North America, as well as in the Old World. The 
nomenclature adopted by Mr. Saunders for two of the Northern species 
differs from that commonly employed, Mr. Saunders maintaining, and 
apparently with good reason, that the Linneean name parasiticus belongs 
not to the bird commonly so called, but to the bird usually called cepphus 
or buffoni. Thus Stercorarius crepidatus Saunders is the S. parasiticus of 
Coues and most recent authors, while the S. parasiticus Saunders is the 
S. buffoni of Coues and others, which is again the S. cepphus of Gray and 
other writers. 
Mr. Saunders’s paper on the Terns (1. c. pp. 638 - 672, pL Ixi) is similar 
in character to that on the Jager or Skau Gulls, treating mainly of no- 
menclature and distribution, being, like the other, preliminary to a mono- 
graph of the Laridce. The genera recognized are Hydrochelidon, Sterna^ 
Ncenia, Gygis, and Anous. Of the forty-eight species recognized, thirty- 
eight are placed under Sterna. The most noteworthy change of names 
among the North American species is the substitution of the name 
fiuviatilus of Naumann for the hitherto almost universally accepted 
hirundo of Linnaeus for our Common Tern, which name he considers as 
originally embracing both the hirundo and the macrura of recent authors. 
The Sterna portlandica of liidgway is referred to S. macrura^ in accord- 
ance with Mr. Brewster’s views, and the Least Tern is considered as 
specifically distinct from S. superciliaris, of which Dr. Coues deems it to be 
merely a variety. In most other cases Mr. Saunders’s names as respects 
the North American species agree with those recently adopted by Dr. 
Coues in his “ Birds of the Northwest.” 
Messrs. Sclater and Salvin’s “Kevision of the Neotropical Anatidae” 
(1. c. pp. 358-412, pi. xxxiv) is a most valuable synopsis of the Ducks 
and Geese of Middle and Southern America, and embraces also a large 
proportion of the species of North America, including as it does all that 
reach Tropical America in their migrations. The paper includes notices 
of sixty-two species, of the greater part of which are given short descrip- 
tions, accompanied by pretty full lists of bibliographical references. 
Twenty-three of the species are considered as “ Nearctic,” leaving thirty- 
nine as properly “ Neotropical.” The paper closes with a very convenient 
tabular synopsis of the geographical distribution of the genera and 
species. — J. A. A. 
Vennor’s Rapacious Birds op Canada. — With the title Our Birds of 
Prey ; or, The Eagles, Hawks, and Owls of Canada,” by Henry G. Vennor, 
Messrs, Dawson Brothers have published an elegant royal octavo volume 
of one hundred and fifty-four pages, with thirty photographic illustra- 
tions. While these illustrations are probably as excellent as the photo- 
