Recent Literature. 
167 
itmut ilttnattuf. 
Belding and Ridgway’s Birds of Central California.* — In 
this Bulletin for April, 1878 (Vol. Ill, pp. 64-68), is a short report on 
forty-seven species of California birds, by Mr. Ridgway, based on speci- 
mens forwarded to the National Museum by Mr. Belding. The present 
paper continues the subject, and forms a most important contribution to 
Californian ornithology. It is based, Mr. Ridgway tells us, “ upon obser- 
vations extending through about twenty years’ res’dence in California, and 
upon collections made chiefly during the last two years, which have, from 
time to time, been forwarded bv Mr. Belding to the National Museum.” 
These collections embrace about 180 species, exclusive of races, and six 
hundred specimens. Notes on about forty other species are added, raising 
the whole number of species treated in the list to 220. These are quite 
fully annotated from Mr. Belding’s field notes, while many important 
technical observations are added by Mr. Ridgway, who is responsible for 
the identification of the species and the nomenclature adopted. Preceding 
the list proper is a short account of the several localities at which the 
collections were made, with tabular lists of the birds observed at each 
of the more important ones. 
The number of species, exclusive of the wading and swimming birds, 
is 158. An analysis of these, from a geographical stand-point, gives 
the following interesting generalizations: — (1) About one half of the 
species are strictly Western, not being found east of the Middle Prov- 
ince. The others are species having what may be termed a continental 
range ; but (2) of these, thirty, or rather more than one third, are 
exclusively represented on the Pacific Coast by Western varieties or sub- 
species (in several cases by more than a single variety), while (3) the 
remainder, constituting about one third of the whole number, represent 
typically the Eastern stock, but in several instances are also accompanied 
by strictly Western races. In reference to the large number of Western 
species, it may be stated that Geothlypis macgillivrayi , Zonotrichia inter- 
media , , Sturnella neglecla, Pica nut t alii, Contopus richardsoni, and Empi- 
donax difficilis are accorded full specific rank, while Sphyropicus nd)er and 
Colaptes mexicanus are treated as subspecies. 
As on previous recent occasions, Mr. Ridgway here adopts (and we 
believe consistently) guttata and ustulatus in place respectively of the 
more familiar names pallasi and swainsoni for two species of Turdus, and 
* A Partial List of the Birds of Central California. By L. Belding of Stoc- 
ton. Edited by R. Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. I, pp. 388-449. 
April, 1879. 
