° 'i9i8 ] Recent Literature. 249' 



■ 

 birds and Yellow Warblers in all probability pass down our Atlantic coast 



in migration we shall in future be in doubt as to which form we have seen. 



Meanwhile it will be interesting for those who have good series of migrant 



specimens to see whether they can detect the new forms among them. — 



W. S. 



Murphy on a New Albatross. 1 — Under the name Diomedia sanfordi 

 (p. 861), Mr. Murphy describes a single specimen of an Albatross secured 

 at sea forty miles off Corral, Chile, by R. H. Beck who was engaged in 

 obtaining specimens for the Brewster-Sanford Collection. The specimen 

 is compared at length with D. exulans and the difference in the structure 

 of the nostril is so great that in Mr. Murphy's opinion the two should be 

 separated subgenerically, and he therefore erects the subgenus Rhothonia 

 (p. 861) for his new species. 



Whether Mr. Murphy compared his specimen with D. chionoptera Salv. 

 we do not know but in the last number of the ' Bulletin ' of the. British 

 Ornithologists' Club, Lord Rothschild, in commenting upon Mr. Murphy's 

 paper, identifies his new species with this latter form, citing records to 

 show that it ranges widely after the breeding season which would make its 

 occurrence off the coast of Chile not unlikely. — W. S. 



Shuf eldt on Fossil Birds from Vero, Florida. 2 — This is an elaboration 

 of a previous report on the same material published in ' The Journal of 

 Geology ' for January-February, 1917, pp. 18-19, and already noticed iD 

 these columns. A reference to the present publication seems desirable in 

 order to prevent future complications by calling attention to the fact that 

 the new species described in the former paper all appear as " sp. nov." 

 in this one as well, and may easily be quoted from it in mistake. Such 

 practice is decidedly reprehensible. As the present paper is dated July 20, 

 1917, at the end of the text, it would seem that the author had ample time 

 to give the proper references to the earlier publication had he so desired. — 

 W. S. 



Publications on Bird Protection. — From the Winter Number of 

 ' Bird Notes and News ' we learn that Venezuela has passed a law to stop 

 the killing of Egrets for their plumes, limiting the traffic to cast feathers. 

 In England great damage has been done to the native birds by the indis- 

 criminate destruction of both birds and eggs by members of the ' Sparrow 

 Clubs ' which were organized for the purpose of reducing the numbers 

 of the House Sparrow* but whose activities, through ignorance, were 

 extended to other species as well. 



1 A New Albatross from the West Coast of South America. By Robert Cushman 

 Murphy. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XXXVII, pp. 861-864. December 10, 1917. 



2 Fossil Birds found at Vero, Florida, with Descriptions of New Species. By R. W. 

 Shufeldt. Ninth Ann. Bep. Fla. State Geol. Surrey, 1917, pp. 35-42. 



