270 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



are the first feathers to complete their growth. The " feet " 

 are very large and the ' ' legs " very short, the former being 

 semi-zygodactylous, as the outer toe can be turned at right 

 angles to the axis of the middle toe, with which it is con- 

 nected by a web. Mrs. Johnstone gives a woodcut of the 

 nestling and Mr. Pycraft contributes illustrations of the 

 wings and down-feathers. 



In an account of some of the birds of the Seychelles 

 Mr. B. C. Thomasset gives us the welcome intelligence that 

 the hue Pigeon Alectorcenas pulcherrima is still numerous 

 where protected. 



Coloured plates are furnished of the European and Hima- 

 layan Goldfinches and of Leptoptila jamaicensis. 



35. Beebe on the Psychology of Bints. 



Some Notes on the Psychology of Birds. By C. William Behe. 

 A.bstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. New York, 1902-4, p. 40.] 



We hardly know what to say about this paper, to which 

 our attention has been specially invited, but fear that some 

 of the stories told in it are more or less of an imaginative 

 character. We confess to have read of crows sitting in 

 judgment on one of their fellows and executing the offender 

 after due condemnation, but thought it was in Gay's Fables ! 

 Who saw the Loon "risk its life" in order to save a Grebe 

 from an ice-trap ? When we come to such matters as " play " 

 and " courtship," we enter on less debatable ground. Every 

 one will allow the importance of these functions in the life 

 of birds, and they present facts which cannot possibly be 

 controverted. Here, at least, we are on solid ground. But 

 they should not, in our opinion, be mixed up with specu- 

 lations concerning which no proof is possible. 



36. Bishop on the Breeding of North- American Birds. 



[The Eggs and Breeding-Habits of some comparatively little-known 

 North-American Birds. By L. B. Bishop, M.D. Abstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 New York, L902-4, p. 48.] 



Dr. Bishop describes the nesting-habits and eggs of Rallus 

 crepitans scotti, Rallus crepitans waynei, Agelceus pliwnicetts 



