= 88 3 .] 
Recent Literature. 
I 13 
even more clearly by summaries at the end of the paper, in which tables 
it is always desirable to present birds in their several categories of perma- 
nent residents, summer visitants, spring and fall migrants, winter visi- 
tants, and the irregular” or stragglers. 
We note, as of interest in considering this locality : Polioptila ccerulea , 
Oporornis agilis , Coccygus americanus , Ulula cinerea , Falco islandicus , 
Falco peregrinus , Cathartes aura , Herodias egretta, Florida ccerulea , 
Actodromas bairdi , Ancylochilus subarquatus , Recurvirostra americana , 
Rallus elegans, R. longirostris crepitans , and other rarities; and not only 
on account of their intrinsic interest, but as showing that the locality must 
have been pretty carefully gone over. 
The article is fairly well printed, but, aside from typographical errors, 
we are surprised that Mr. Brown should have overlooked the peculiar 
orthography to be found here and there, which may, however, result from 
“authority” or personal predilection. We do not understand the use of 
the term Spizella montana (Forst.) Ridg. Forster certainly never 
described or named our Tree Sparrow, properly speaking — he simply 
mistook it for the European Passer montana ; and no nomenclatural avail- 
ibility is conferred by the fact that the two birds belong to different modern 
genera. 
We wish that the author had not deemed it advisable to suppress the 
original pagination of the article as a part of the Proceedings, and the 
number of the volume of the latter in which it appeared ; for, as the pam- 
phlet stands, we have no means of properly citing its original edition. 
— E. C. 
Ridgway on the Tree-creepers.*— Mr. Ridgway states that after a 
careful consideration of much material and all that has been written on the 
subject, he has been “forced to the conclusion that the C. mexicana itself 
cannot stand even as a race, or else it becomes necessary to recognize a 
larger number of races than have [has] usually been claimed for the spe- 
cies. In other words, it is simply a question of whether geographical var- 
iations of form and color are to be completely ignored as a factor in the 
genesis of species, or whether they should receive due consideration in 
connection with this important subject.” Accepting the latter view as the 
more scientific one he proceeds to characterize 7 races as susceptible of 
definition, 3 of' which are for the first time named. These races are as fol- 
lows : 1. familiaris Linn., Scandinavia; 2.? costce Bailly, Central 
Europe; 3. brittanica subs, nov., British Islands ; 4. rufa Bartr., Eastern 
North America; 5. mojitana subs, nov., Middle Province of North Amer- 
ica; 6. occidentalis subs, nov., Pacific coast of North America ; 7. mexi- 
cana Gloger, Guatemala and Southern Mexico. — J. A. A. 
* Critical Remarks on the Tree-creepers (Certhia) of Europe and North America. 
By Robert Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, pp. m-116. July 8, 1882. 
