1 92 1.] Becently published Ornithological JVorks. 173 



and making investigations in the marine fauna, especially of 

 the deeper parts of the Pacific, and the collection of birds 

 was quite a secondary consideration. Nevertheless, some 

 390 skins, 93 species and subspecies, were collected from 83 

 different islands ; and this report, though somewhat belated, 

 is of considerable importance, and must be consulted by 

 anyone interested in the Pacific avifauna. 



The land-birds, though few in number, have been subjected 

 to isolation, and a study of their variation, due doubtless to 

 this cause, is of very great interest. 



The first portion of the paper by Mr. Townsend, who 

 accompanied the expedition, contains a journal of the islands 

 visited, with remarks on their physical characters. The 

 groups where collections were made included the Marquesas, 

 Paumotu, Society, Tonga, Fiji, Gilbert, Caroline and Ladrone 

 archipelagoes. The second half of the paper by Mr. A. 

 Wetmore contains an annotated list of the sjiecies obtained, 

 with a good many interesting remarks on taxonomy and 

 classification, and descriptions of a certain number of new 

 subspecies. Mr. Wetmore apj)ears to have been somewhat 

 hampered in his determinations by the absence of sufficient 

 material for comparison in the Museum at Washington, and 

 in some cases his views by no means coincide with those of 

 Mr. G. M. Mathews, especially in regard to the name of the 

 E/ed- footed Booby, which he believes must retain Linna^us's 

 name, Sula piscator. 



It is interesting to learn that on some of the Pacific 

 Islands the Frigate-birds are domesticated, and used like 

 Carrier Pigeons for carrying messages from one island to 

 another. 



Wetmore on lead-poisoning in Ducks. 



[Lead-poisoning iu Water-fowl. By Alexander Wetmore. Wash- 

 ington, D.C., U.S. Dept. Agr. Bull. no. 7i>3, 1919, pp. 1-12; 1 pi] 



Mr. Wetmore finds that in many parts of America, where 

 duck-shooting is carried on on a large scale, the mud-fiats 

 become full of shot, which are eaten in considerable quantities 

 by the water-fowl, and cause a distinct sickness, the symptoms 



