114 Recent Literature. [jan. 



developed led Mr. Wetmore to a careful study of the available specimens 

 which demonstrated beyond question that this is the normal condition 

 in the species. One of these long feathers develops and is retained for 

 more than a year, probably for two. The other one does not appear until 

 the first has attained its full growth. Upon the molt of the first feather 

 the other takes its place, so that there is always one long feather — the 

 right and left alternately — while the other one is always very much shortei 

 and only partly developed. — W. S. 



Chapman on New Colombian Birds. 1 — In the present paper Dr. 

 Chapman describes twenty-six additional new forms from the rich collec- 

 tions obtained by the several expeditions sent out, under his direction, by the 

 American Museum of Natural History. The problems of distribution 

 presented by a study of these collections demand for their solution addi- 

 tional material from Antioquia and eastern Panama and to secure this 

 the Museum has sent out two additional collecting parties under Messrs. 

 L. E. Miller and W. B. Richardson. 



Dr. Chapman is sparing no pains to make his study of the Colombian 

 avifauna thorough in all its details and the further his work progresses the 

 more anxiously do we await the final report upon the subject. 



The present contribution even though admittedly preliminary, is a 

 welcome relief from the wretched descriptions of two or three lines with 

 which our literature is becoming overburdened. Not only are the diag- 

 noses here presented full and adequate, with appropriate discussion, but in 

 many instances brief contrasted descriptions of all the known forms of a 

 group are given with their respective geographic ranges. — W. S. 



Shufeldt on the Young of Phalacrocorax atriceps georgianus. 2 — 



This paper consists of a detailed account of a young cormorant twenty-four 

 hours out of the egg. While no generalizations are suggested the condi- 

 tion of the various organs is minutely described as well as the progress of 

 ossification in various parts of the skeleton, making a permanent record of 

 facts that may be used in future comparative study. — W. S. 



' Alaskan Bird-Life.' 3 — Through the generosity of one of its members 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies has been enabled to carry its 



J Diagnoses of apparently new Colombian Birds. III. By Frank M. Chap- 

 man. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXXIII, Art. XL, pp. 603-637. November 

 21, 1914. 



2 Anatomical Notes on the Young of Phalacrocorax Atriceps Georgianus. By 

 R. W. Shufeldt, M. D., extracted from a Report on the South Georgia Expedition. 

 Sci. Bull. Mus. Brooklyn Inst. Arts and Sci., Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 41-102. November 

 5, 1914. 



8 Alaskan Bird-Life as Depicted by Many Writers. Edited by Ernest Ingersoll. 

 Seven Plates in Colors and other Illustrations. Published by the National Asso- 

 ciation of Audubon Societies. New York, 1914. 



