178 Recently published Ornithological Wo)-ks. 



emarginate, and a young CE. nigra or (E.fasca, in whatever 

 plumage it may be, can always be detected by this means. 

 In the other species, curiously enough, this distinction does 

 not hold good. Dr. Dwight also asserts that in addition to 

 the usual post-nuptial moult in August, when all the feathers 

 including the remiges are changed, there is partial pre- 

 nuptial moult in March or April, when the body- and tail- 

 feathers are chanijed but not the remi":es. This is stated to 

 be true for all the species so far as Dr. Dwight has been able 

 to discover, and has been entirely overlooked up to now, 



Mr. A. n. Wright, who has written much on the former 

 history of the Passenger Pigeon, has now turned his attention 

 to the I'urkey and discusses in a long article, pp. 33 1 and 

 463, the early history of this bird and its introduction and 

 domestication in Europe. It is said to have been served at 

 the marriage feast of Charles IX. of France in 1570, and this 

 one of tlie earliest notices of its being mentioned in Europe. 



It has long been known that the stomach of the Tanagrine 

 genus Eiiphonia was quite abnormal, and the late I\lr. W. 

 A. Forbes first gave a correct description of the anatomical 

 facts. These aie briefly, that instead of a muscular ventri- 

 oulus or gizzard, the Tanagers of this genus possess only a 

 flabby thin-walled sac which runs direct from the proventri- 

 culus to the small intestine. 



Mr. Alex, Witmore, who has lately been employed on 

 fiekl-u'ork for the Biological Survey of the United States in 

 Porto Rico, suggests that the absence of all traces of the 

 muscular gizzard is due to the fact that the species found 

 in that island, Eaphonia or Tanagra sclateri, feeds exclusively 

 on n)istletoe-berries of tlie genus Phoradendron, clumps of 

 which are common locally in the forest of the island. The 

 seed passes through the body of the bird unchanged, and the 

 glutinous berry surrounding it forms the sole nourishment 

 of the bird and renders unnecessary the presence of a 

 muscular gizzai'd. 



A number of papers of more local interest, such as those 

 on the birds of districts in the State of Alabama by JMessrs. 

 Golsan and Holt, Colorado bj* Messrs. Rockwell and 



