90 Recent Literature. \^^^ 



sequence. "The total number of species and subspecies contained in the 

 catalog is 383, of which 162 are breeders. Species not actually taken 

 within the limits of the state are distinguished by being put in brackets. 

 Of this kind there are 30, which subtracted from 383 leave as the present 

 status (July 8, 1907) 353 actually observed species and subspecies for our 

 state." 



The manner of occurrence and seasons of migration are stated with 

 fulness, and authorities are cited for the records of the rarer species; the 

 data respecting the former abundance and the extirpation of the Wild 

 Pigeon and Carolina Paroquet are very fully given, as are the notes respect- 

 ing the great decline in numbers of many other species. Taken as a whole, 

 Mr. Widmann's 'Catalog' as an excellent summary of the ornithology 

 'of Missouri, for which his fellow ornithologists may well feel deeply grate- 

 ful.— J. A. A. 



Jones on ' The Development of Nestling Feathers.' ' — " The purpose of 

 this paper," says the author "is to give a more complete account of the 

 development of the down, or Neossoptile, than has been given by previous 

 writers and to show the true relation of this structure to the first definitive 

 feather." This relation is thus stated: "The first down and its succeeding 

 definitive feather are produced by one continuous growth, and therefore 

 cannot be regarded as two distinct feathers. The first down is the plum- 

 ulaceous tip of the first definitive feather." Contrary to the conclusion 

 of some previous writers, the neossoptile is shown not to possess a shaft 

 nor a true quill, but to be always in direct continuity with the barb- vanes 

 of the first definitive feather. In other words, the neossoptile is only a 

 more or less differentiated distal part, of the first teleoptile. 



These investigations are based on the study of a large number of species, 

 representing many families, and relate to (1) the development of the 

 nestling down (plates i-iv, and (2) the relation of the down to the first 

 definitive feather (plates v-viii). The first definitive feather with down 

 attached is shown in figures 56-138 (plates v-viii) from a large number 

 of species "by direct prints from the feathers." The paper is thus one of 

 much interest and an important contribution to the subject under investi- 

 gation. — J. A. A. 



Beebe on Geographic Variation in Birds.- — This paper consists of six 

 Parts — (1) Historical; (2) Dichromatism; (3) Sporadic Melanism; (4) 

 Experimental {Hylocichla and Zonotrichia; (5) Experimental (Scardafella) . 



1 The Development of Nestling Feathers. By Lynds Jones. Laboratory Bulletin 

 No. 13, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, 1907. Pp. 1-18, pU. i-viii. 



2 Geographic Variation in Birds with especial reference to the Effects of Humidity. 

 By C. William Beebe, Curator of Birds, New York Zoological Society. — Zoologica: 

 Scientific Contributions of the New York Zoological Society, Vol. I, No. 1, Sept. 25. 

 1907. Pp. 1-41, with 5 half-tone plates. 



