1908 ] Recent Literature. 335 



C. vauxi, two distinct species of Chcetura are recognized, C. cinereiventris 

 phceopygos and C. spinicauda jumosa. — W. DeW. M. 



'Cassinia.' — 'Cassinia, A Bird Annual,'^ "devoted to the ornithology 

 of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware," comprises seven papers, 

 followed by an 'Abstract of Proceedings,' a bibliography (including (1) 

 ornithological papers for 1907 by members of the Club, and (2) additional 

 papers relating to the birds of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware), 

 a list of the members of the Club, and an index. The place of honor is 

 accorded to Witmer Stone's interesting biographical sketch of Adolphus 

 L. Heeniiann, M. D., who was bom, it is supposed, in South Carolina in 

 1818, and who died at San Antonio, Texas, September 2, 1865. Dr. Heer- 

 mann is w^ell known as one of the naturalists of the Pacific Railroad 

 Surveys, he having been surgeon and naturahst to Lieutenant R. S. Wil- 

 liamson's expedition, in 1853-54. Previously Heermann had made a large 

 collection of birds in California, and is further known to bird students 

 through the names of two species of California birds, a gull and a sparrow, 

 dedicated to him by Cassin. Mr. Stone has been unable to present a very 

 detailed or connected histoiy of his life, but the facts here brought to- 

 gether are most welcome. The accompanying portrait of Heennann is 

 from a daguerreotype and represents him as attired on one of his western 

 expeditions. The titles of the other papers are : ' Some Birds of Brown's 

 Mills, N. J.,' by Cornelius Weygant; 'Type Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania 

 and New Jersey,' by Spencer Trotter, — an interesting hst, with comment, 

 of species first made known from birds obtained in this region; ' Bird 

 Life of the Indian River Countiy of Delaware,' by Charles J. Pennockj 

 'A Pensauken Diary,' by Chreswell J. Hunt (mth two half-tone plates); 

 'Report on the Spring Migration of 1907,' compiled by Witmer Stone (pp. 

 54-79). The average attendance at the sixteen meetings of the Club 

 held during the year was 24, with a maximum attendance on one or more 

 occasions of 51. — J. A. A. 



Beebe on the Seasonal Changes of Color in Birds.- — The investigations 

 here reported relate to the Scarlet Tanager and the Bobolink. Birds of 

 each species in full nuptial plumage and still in the height of vocal and 

 physical conditions were placed in small cages in a quiet room, and the 

 supply of light gradully cut off and the amount of food increased. When 

 the time for the autiuxmal moult arrived not a single feather was shed. 

 "In brief, the birds sldpped the fall moult entirely and appeared to suffer 

 no inconvenience whatever as a result." They showed only the symptoms 

 of inactivity produced by excessive fatness; early in the experiment they 



1 Cassinia, A Bird Annual. Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological 

 Club of Philadephia, 1907. Issued March, 1908. Svo, pp. 98, and 3 half-tone 

 plates. Price, 50 cents. 



2 Preliminary Report on an Investigation of the Seasonal Changes of Color in Birds. 

 By C. William Beebe. American Naturalist, Vol. XLII, Jan. 1908, pp. 34-38. 



