Recent Literature . 
55 
As regards the technicalities of the subject, the bibliography and sy- 
nonymy of each species, not only of the region in question but of the whole 
continent north of Mexico, is exhaustively presented,* no reference of im- 
portance to any of the species being apparently omitted, while not un- 
frequently, and especially in case of the rarer and little known species, the 
locality to which the reference relates is stated, or the general nature of 
the information specified is indicated. Notwithstanding the fact that titles 
are abridged to the minimum, f the tables of reference usually range in 
length from half a page to a page and a half, and embrace from fifty to 
one hundred, and sometimes more than two hundred, references. While 
some of them may be valueless, we feel assured that the work of compila- 
tion has been so thoroughly done, — especially as we are informed that all 
the references have been personally verified by the author, — that no one 
need go over the same ground again. In all cases of complicated sy- 
nonymy the matter is sifted to the bottom, and where specific names have 
been based on figures or descriptions by non-systematic writers, the exact 
basis of such names is distinctly stated, and their claims to priority or other 
recognition judicially presented. In short, the evidence of tireless research 
and unquestionable thoroughness marks especially this intricate portion of 
the author’s work. The outcome of all this labor does not, fortunately, 
often disturb commonly accepted names, although elucidating many inter- 
esting points of synonymy. The first one hundred and ninety-two pages 
of the work, it appears, were electrotyped in 1876, or two years before the 
remainder of the work was put in type. In the later portion of the work 
generic synonymy is given as well as specific, and in the later chapters 
the etymology of various scientific and vernacular names receives special 
fttention, — features lacking in the earlier portion. Under the head of 
Swallows is given also a resume of the principal waitings relating to the 
supposed hibernation of these birds, with an extensive bibliography of the 
subject. 
As indicated in the title-page already quoted, this part of the work 
treats the Perching Birds as far as the Shrikes (including the latter), or 
that portion of the order sometimes termed Dentirostral Passeres. The 
geographical area embraced is “ the whole region drained by the Colorado 
River of the West and its tributaries, as far south as the present Mexican 
boundary of the United States.” It hence includes u Arizona, much of 
* We miss, however, all reference to Regulus cuvieri, and the bibliography of 
Sitta pusilla and of Parus atrieapillus , excepting that relating to var. septen- 
trioncdis. 
t The abridgment of titles is carried to such an extreme that while intelli- 
gible at sight to the advanced specialist, they must in many cases be useless to 
the less experienced, as many by no means novices in ornithology might be at 
a loss for an interpretation of “Bp. CGL.,” “Bp. CR.,” “Bp. CA.,” or “Cab. 
MH.,” or even “ C. & S. NHWT.” 
