VOl ; 9 o XI1 ] Recent Literature. 95 



present knowledge of the birds of Nebraska, and as such, with its included 

 ' synopses,' must prove of great assistance to students of Nebraska 

 ornithology, as well as an important contribution to fauna 1 literature. 

 -J. A. A. 



Scott on the Inheritance of Song in Passerine Birds. — In two recent 

 papers in 'Science' 1 Mr. Scott continues the relation of his interest- 

 ing observations in regard to the growth, changes of plumage, song, and 

 nest-building of hand-reared Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Meadowlarks. 

 On June 19, 1903, three young Grosbeaks, then about five days old, were 

 taken from the nest and successfully reared by hand in the author's 

 aviary, and were thus excluded from contact with wild birds of their own 

 species. They had moulted by September into the usual fall dress of the 

 species, and the second moult was completed early in February, this in- 

 cluding the tail feathers but not the wing quills, which latter, however, 

 underwent some change in color. Just what the change was is not stated, 

 but as tc the ' how ' of the change Mr. Scott tells us, in italic type, " I am 

 strongly inclined to the opinion that there is a physical change in the 

 feather itself, which alters its appearance so far as color is concerned"; 

 or, as he says again, the primaries "attain their brilliancy either by wear 

 or by direct change in the color of the feather.' 1 ' 1 As this is given as his 

 " opinion," we naturally wait with interest for some proof that this opin- 

 ion has some basis of fact, since the well-established facts thus far are 

 quite opposed to such a belief. 



Soon after the Grosbeaks, of which two were males and the other a 

 female, had recovered from their second moult the males began to make 

 feeble attempts at song, which presently increased in volume, and while 

 extremely musical and possessing "the soft plaintive quality character- 

 istic of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak," "no one would refer the method of 

 song to the bird in question." In the second report on these birds, and 

 referring to the third week in May, 1904, the song is described as "abso- 

 lutely and entirely different from the song of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

 as it is heard when wild out of doors." The two male Grosbeaks had 

 then for some time been kept in cages adjacent to a Hardwick's Bulbul, 

 and by the middle of May their songs "were so close an imitation of the 

 insistent song of the Bulbul that it was difficult, when not looking at the 

 birds, to tell which species was singing." 



1 The Inheritance of Song in Passerine Birds. Remarks on the Develop- 

 ment of Song in the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Zamelodia ludoviciana (Lin- 

 naeus), and the Meadowlark, Sturnella magna (Linnaeus). By William E. D. 

 Scott. Science, N. S., Vol. XIX, No. 495, pp. 957-959, June 14, 1904. 



The Inheritance of Song in Passerine Birds. Further Observations on the 

 Development of Song and Nest-building in Hand-reared Rose-breasted Gros- 

 beaks, Zamelodia ludoviciana (Linnaeus). Ibid., Vol. XX, No. 504, pp. 282, 

 283, Aug. 26, 1904. 



