490 Recent Literature. [o c t. 



Bangs on New South American Birds. 1 — In a review of the races of 

 Tangara gyroloides Mr. Bangs describes as new T. g. nupera (p. 76) the 

 form found in western Ecuador, formerly considered identical with the 

 T. g. bangsi ranging from Costa Rica to Veragua. In conjunction with 

 Mr. G. K. Noble he has described a new woodpecker, Chrysoptilus atricollis 

 lymani (p. 85) from Huancabamba, Peru. — W. S. 



Wetmore on Duck Sickness in Utah. 5 — The present bulletin is a 

 final report upon the investigations conducted by Mr. Wetmore on behalf 

 of the U. S. Biological Survey in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake, where the 

 mortality among water fowl has been particularly noticeable. A prelimi- 

 nary report was issued in 1915 and reviewed in ' The Auk ' for October of 

 that year. The present paper while going into the subject in much greater 

 detail confirms the conclusions set forth in the preliminary report that the 

 trouble was due to the water becoming charged with alkali. Certain salts 

 contained in it, notably chlorides of calcium and magnesium, have been 

 shown by actual experiment to produce the duck sickness. 



The way in which the birds become infected is described by Mr. Wetmore 

 as follows. Irrigation has decreased the amount of water supplying the 

 marshes on the lake front, and the resulting slow drainage induces stagna- 

 tion over large areas. Surface evaporation and capillary attraction rapidly 

 draw the salts held in solution in the mud to the surface and there con- 

 centrate them. Strong winds bank up the water in the larger bays and 

 blow it over the drying flats taking up the salts in solution and carrying 

 with it quantities of seeds and insects upon which the ducks feed eagerly 

 taking in naturally quite an amount of the salts. Complete draining of 

 affected areas, increase in the supply of fresh water and caring for the sick 

 birds, which can in a large percentage of cases be brought back to perfect 

 health, are recommended as means to counteract the trouble. 



Mr. Wetmore has done an admirable piece of work in seeking out the 

 cause of this malady which has become a serious menace to ducks in Utah 

 as well as in regions to the south where these birds would naturally go in 

 the winter season. — W. S. 



Mathews' ' Birds of Australia. 3 — Part II of Volume VII of Mr. 

 Mathew's work is a bulky number dealing with the Kingfishers and the 

 Bee-eater, eight species being figured. As was to be expected the com- 

 posite genus Halcyon comes in for some serious treatment at the author's 



1 Notes on the Geographical Races of Tangara gyroloides. By Outram Bangs. Proc. 

 N. E. Zool. Club, VI, pp. 73-76, December 21, 1917. 



Description of a New Woodpecker from Peru. By Outram Bangs and G. K. Noble. 

 Proc. N. E. Zool. Club, vi, pp. 85-86. June 7, 191S. 



2 The Duck Sickness in Utah. By Alexander Wetmore. Bulletin 672, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, June 21, 1918. pp. 1-25. 



3 The Birds of Australia. By Gregory M. Mathews. Part II, Volume VII. May 15, 

 1918. 



