Vo, 'i9i8 XV ] Recent Literature. 97 



the parent of ' Bird Clubs ' in fact, is always interesting. In this issue we 

 find a full account of the Masque Sanctuary written especially for the 

 Meriden Club by Percy MacKaye, first performed at Meriden on Septem- 

 ber 12, 1913, and since played in many parts of the country. More than 

 anything else in recent years this play seems to have aroused public interest 

 in bird conservation and it will interest everyone to read this account of its 

 inception and production. 



Among many other matters interesting to those engaged in the estab- 

 lishment of bird sanctuaries we find in this report a list of no less than 182 

 bud clubs which directly or indirectly owe their origin to the Meriden Club 

 — a proud record for Mr. Baynes and his associates. — W. S. 



Mathews' 'Birds of Australia '.'—Part V, of Volume VI of Mr. 

 Mathews' work continues the treatment of the Parrots, figuring ten species 

 of Psephotus and allied genera. We notice on p. 391 a new subgenus, 

 Clarkona, provisionally proposed for Psephotus varius, and on p. 408 two 

 new subspecies, Psephotus varius thela?, from Central Australia, and P. 

 v. orientalis, from Underbool. — W. S. 



Strong on the Origin of Melanin Pigment in Feather Germs. 2 — 



Dr. Strong finds that melanin pigment granules occur occasionally in the 

 so-called cylinder and inner-sheath cells of feather germs from the Common 

 Fowl, and obtains further evidence that this pigment is of epidermal origin. 

 He found melanophores in the dermal pulp of the feather germs, presum- 

 ably homologous with the dermal melanophores of the skin. While some 

 of these had processes they did not, apparently distribute pigment to other 

 cells.— W. S. 



Bird Conservation in 1917. — The bulky report of the National Associa- 

 tion of Audubon Societies must be read by everyone interested in bird 

 protection. When we read the lengthy lists of persons engaged in 

 this work today we are dazed at the progress of the movement. With 

 hundreds of bird clubs being organized in every part of the country, 

 thousands of school teachers introducing instruction on bird protection 

 in their classes, with bird lecturers on the Chautaqua circuits and exhibi- 

 tions of bird houses, feeding shelves and other paraphernalia on every 

 side, it will soon be as hard to find a person who is not affiliated with bird 

 conservation in some way or other, as it was some years ago to find one who 

 was willing to sign a pledge to abandon the use of birds in millinery. 



The movement has certainly gotten far beyond the ability of ' The Auk ' 



1 The Birds of Australia. By Gregory M. Mathews. Vol. VI, Part V. September 11, 

 1917. 



2 Some Observations on the Origin of Melanin Pigment in Feather Germs from the 

 Plymouth Bock and Brown Leghorn Fowls. By B. M. Strong. Anatomical Becord,.,Vol. 

 13, No. 2, July, 1917. pp. 97-108. 



