36 
Recent Literature. 
sentation by maps, and is well worthy of careful consideration on the part 
of those interested in the detailed study of the geographical distribution 
of animals. In addition to the tables a descriptive list of authorities is 
given, to which references are made by numbers in the tables, as also a 
long list of “Notes and Criticisms of Doubtful Records,” to which are also 
references in the tables. We have thus here presented the bibliography 
of the subject, a summary of the facts, and a critical discussion of doubtful 
records, based on a thorough elaboration of all accessible means of infor- 
mation. It is good work in a most important direction ; the method is 
novel and ingenious, and the results may be grasped at a single glance. 
It is to be hoped that Mr. Brown will soon extend his labors to other 
regions, and that there will be presently numerous followers in the same 
line of research. The number of circumpolar species (nearly fifty) em- 
braced in these lists render these papers of special interest to students who 
commonly confine their attention to the birds of the North American 
Region. — J. A. A. 
S Summer Birds of the Adirondacks. — Messrs. Rooseveldt and Mi- 
not have published a very acceptable list of the summer birds of the 
Adirondacks,* embracing ninety-seven species, with short notes respect- 
ing their abundance, — the first list known to us of the summer birds of 
this ornithologically little-explored region. — J. A. A. 
Birds of Southern Illinois. — Ornithologists are indebted to Mr. 
E. W. Nelson for a second important paper on the “ Birds of Illinois.” t 
Although less elaborate and comprehensive than his former “ Birds of 
Northeastern Illinois” (noticed in this Bulletin, Yol. II, p. 68), it contains 
much tt information respecting the distribution, habits, and relative abun- 
dance of the summer birds of the southern portion of the same State. 
It is based on observations made chiefly in July and August, and gives 
partial lists of the birds of several localities in Richland and Union Coun- 
ties, embracing altogether notices of one hundred and thirty-three species. 
Mr. Nelson left some months since for a protracted sojourn in Alaska, 
where, it is hoped, he will find leisure for much ornithological work in 
connection with his duties as United States Signal Officer at St. Michael’s. 
His intelligent labors in Illinois lead us to expect that no opportunity of 
further increasing our knowledge of the ornithology of a region so little 
known as Alaska will be neglected. — J. A. A. 
Gentry’s “ Life-Histories of the Birds of Eastern Pennsylva- 
nia.” — Mr. Gentry has recently brought out the second volume of his 
* The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N. Y. By 
Theodore Rooseveldt, Jr., and H. D. Minot. 8vo. pp. 4. 1877. 
t Notes upon Birds observed in Southern Illinois, between July 17 and Sep- 
tember 4, 1875. By E. W. Nelson. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Yol. IX, 
pp. 32-65, June, 1877. 
