Recently published Ornithological Works. 323 



41. Beat on the Food of the North- American Icteridfe. 



[Food of the Bobolink, Blackbirds, and Grackles. By F. E. L. 

 Beal, B.S. Bull. U. S. Dep. of Agiic, Div. of Biol. Survey, No. 13. 

 8vo. Washing-tOD, 1900.] 



It is always with pleasure that we take up one of the 

 careful and exhaustive monographs of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture. In that before us Mr. Beal has undertaken 

 to weigh the evidence for and against the chief members of 

 the family Icteridge, as regards their harmful propensities; 

 giving at the same time most instructive diagrams repre- 

 senting the elements that constitute the birds' food_, a table 

 of " distribution of stomachs/' and a map of the range of the 

 Bobolink. This species holds an exceptional position^ 

 causing immense damage at planting-time and harvest to the 

 jice-crops of the South^ but being beneficial and a general 

 favourite in the Eastern States : so that the good might well 

 outweigh the evil everywhere, were it not for the immense 

 size of the flocks. Several of the other members of the 

 Icteridse must for the present be allowed to do more harm than 

 goodj but the majority are decidedly useful, and will be still 

 more so as waste lands continue to come under cultivation. 

 In many States protection might well be afforded to such 

 birds, or more widely extended, for the amount of injurious 

 insects and seeds of weeds they consume is prodigious. 



42. Bingham and Thompson on Birds from Upper Burma. 



[On the Birds collected aud observed in the .Southern Shan States of 

 Upper Burma. By Col. C. T. Bingham, F.Z.S., and II. N. Thompson, 

 r.Z.S. J. A. S. B. Ixix. pt. 2, p. 102, 1900.] 



An account is given of a collection of about 350 specimens 

 representing 239 species obtained during a tour through the 

 Southern Shan States of Upper Burma made in the cold 

 weather of 1899-1 900. Two of these — Cerasophila thompsoni 

 (a new genus of Bulbul allied to Hi/psipetes) and Cyornis 

 brei'irosiris — have already been described as new in the 

 'Annals of Natural History' (ser. 7, vol. v. p. 359, 1900). 

 The rare Sitta magna was observed on Mount Lor-San-Ba 

 and at Taunggy, and two specimens (^ et $ ) were procured 

 at the latter locality. 



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