48 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 86 



study work there is clearly room for improvement. It is stated that 

 ' ' They are suggestive at least of the sort of work that is actually being 

 done in preparing teachers to do nature work. ' ' Too bad ! L. J. 



' ' Descriptions of Eight New African Bulbuls. ' ' By Edgar A. Mearns, 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 61, Number 2.5, February 

 16, 1914. (Publication 2260.) ' ' Four of the forms of African birds 

 here described are from the collection made by the Childs Fri^k African 

 Expedition, 1911-1912; three are from the Smithsonian African Expedi- 

 tion, 1909-1910 collection, made under the direction of Col. Theodore 

 Roosevelt; and one from the Paul J. Rainey Expedition, 1911-1912." 

 There are seven sub-species and one species — Andropadus fricki, Endoto 

 Bulbul. L. J. 



' ' Five Important Wild Duck Foods. " By W. L. McAtee, Assistant Bi- 

 ologist. Bulletin No. 58, U. S. Department of Agriculture. February 7, 

 1914. These foods are the Delta Duck Potato (Sagittaria platyphylla), 

 which is distributed over the lower Mississippi valley; wapato (Sagittaria 

 latifolia and arifolia), distributed over the most of the United States 

 and lower Canada; chufa (Cyperus esculentus), distributed over the 

 United States except the north-west plains and the mountain regions of 

 the west, as well as south into South America; wild millet (Echinochloa 

 crus-galli), in widely separated regions of the United States; banana 

 water lily (Nymphaea mexicana), at Lake Surprise, Texas, and all along 

 the gulf coast, but capable of propagation over the whole United 

 States. L. J. 



The Ornithological Magazines. 



The ' ' Auk, ' ' January, 1914. Volume XXXI, No. 1. The two articles of 

 particular interest in this full number are the first paper by Dr. R. M. 

 Strong, of the University of Chicago, "On the habits and behavior 

 of the Herring Gull, Larus argentatus," with plates III-X; and "Notes 

 on the Ornithology of Clay and Palo Alto counties, Iowa," by A. D. 

 Tinker, with plates XI-XII. In addition to other articles of less 

 pretension and the usual large complement of Field Notes and reviews 

 of literature, this number contains an account of the thirty-first stated 

 meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, which was held in No- 

 vember, 1913, in New York City, at the American Museum of Natural 

 History. L. J. 



"Bird-Lore." January-February, 1914, Volume XVI, No. 1. The col- 

 ored frontispiece of the Redpolls and Purple Finches, and the Audubon 

 colored plate of the Wood Thrush are prominent features. The Christmas 

 Census covers twenty-four pages of brevier type, and even then we are 

 told that a considerable number of the lists submitted were excluded for 

 one reason or another. Tlie widespread interest in the study of birds 



