132 Recent Literature. [j" n- 



There is a preliminary review of the arrangement of Nestor in relation to 

 other parrots in the classifications of various authors, and we were in hopes 

 that Dr. Shufeldt, with the material at his disposal, would shed some 

 further light on the subject, but upon tinning to the conclusions we are 

 disappointed to find only that " the family Nestoridse may now be con- 

 sidered an established fact, in so far as the morphology of Nestor notabilis 

 is concerned." However, the plates and detailed description should aid 

 others to make fuller comparisons with skeletons of the supposed allies 

 of Nestor when opportunity offers. — W. S. 



Murphy's Photographs of South Georgia Birds. — In the American 

 Museum Journal for October, 1918, Mr. Robert C. Murphy has a number 

 of photographs of the birds of South Georgia Island accompanied by 

 explanatory descriptions. Full accounts of these species have appeared 

 in his several papers in ' The Auk ' and six of the photographs were previ- 

 ously published in connection with them. Several of those now published 

 have been enlarged and are printed with more extended backgrounds 

 adding much to their appearance. — W. S. 



Taverner's Recent Papers on Canadian Birds. 1 — In the 'Canadian 

 Alpine Journal,' Mr. P. A. Taverner has published a list of birds secured or 

 observed by the Canadian Geological Survey Expedition, mainly by Mr. 

 Wm. Spreadborough, in Jasper Park, Alberta, dining the summer of 1917. 

 Most of the notes deal with species supplementary to Mr. J. H. Riley's list 

 for the same region, published in the Journal for 1912, and they are num- 

 bered continuously with it, from 79 to 108. The few notes on species listed 

 by Riley are entered without numbers. There are some interesting re- 

 marks on the southward movement of Horned Owls and Goshawks and 

 their destruction of the Grouse, and also some systematic conclusions of 

 interest. The two Song Sparrows obtained on the expedition, topotypes of 

 Riley's Mclospiza m. inexpectala, are regarded as closest to a series of 

 merrilli identified by Oberholser and Mr. Taverner fails to find " the char- 

 acters described by Riley as characteristic of his new form." The Canada 

 Jays he regards as nearest to Perisorevs c. fumifrons if that is a tenable 

 subspecies, certainly nearer to canadensis than to capitalis. The Flickers 

 were none of them pure, with the cafer tendency stronger than the auratus. 



Another important paper by the same author is on ' The Hawks of the 

 Canadian Prairie Provinces in their Relation to Agriculture.' 2 This corrob- 

 orates the results obtained by the investigations of the U. S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture, in that the majority of hawks, with the exception of the 

 Accipiters, are beneficial. The damage done by Gophers both as destroyers 



1 Addenda to the Birds of Jasper Park, Alberta. Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. IX, 

 1918, pp. 62-69. 



2 Museum Bulletin No. 28, Canadian Department of Mines. Biol. Series, 'No. 7. 

 August, 191S. 



