1 eye) Feecent Literature. aoa 
unrepresented with us, although shared with other parts of the Old 
World. The sixty species of Weaver Birds described in the present vol- 
ume, the thirty species of Larks, the sixteen species of Starlings, and the 
sixteen of Sunbirds form five ninths of the birds treated in the present 
volume. Of these only the Larks have any American representatives, 
the genus Ofocor/s, alone of this immense family of more than 120 
species and subspecies, reaching America. The Ploceide are practically 
10 primaried Finches, but uniformly differ from the latter in building 
covered nests, which are often exceedingly elaborate, retort-shaped 
affairs, or massed into compound structures containing ‘‘ from twenty to 
more than three hundred separate habitations, which have no commu- 
nication with one another beyond being under the same roof,” as in the 
case of the Social Weaver Bird. The collective nest is added to each 
year, ‘‘ until either the tree in which it is built gives way, or its branches 
can afford room for no more material; fresh nests are then built in neigh- 
boring trees by the younger birds, about twenty pairs joining together to 
work at each.’’ ‘Besides the Weaver Birds, many other South African 
birds either build covered nests or occupy holes in trees or rocks, yet 
very few of the species breeding in covered nests or in holes lay white 
eggs. In fact, some of the Weaver Birds, as the species of the large 
genus Hyphantornis, are remarkable for the variability of color of even 
eggs of the same pair of birds. In the Masked Weaver Bird (ZH. velatus) 
‘‘they are of some shade of white, cream colour, pink, green, or blue; 
often unspotted, but more frequently marked, more or less thickly, with 
small spots and dots of various shades of red and brown; less often they 
are blotched and clouded heavily with large masses of the same colours.” 
The nest is retort-shaped, but is without a neck. 
Dr. Stark’s ‘ Birds of South Africa’ is a well arranged ‘ manual,’ giving 
the characters of all the higher groups, with keys to the genera and 
species, full references to the literature, very full descriptions of the 
species, including variations of plumage with sex and age, the geograph- 
ical range, and short life histories. The cuts, drawn especially for the 
work by Mr. H. Gronvold, mainly illustrate structural features, the 
head, or head, wing and foot, being usually figured for each genus; 
and several of the remarkable nests of Weaver Birds and Sunbirds are 
also illustrated. The book is beautifully printed, on heavy paper, and 
is in every way as attractive as the text is satisfactory and authoritative. 
—jJj.A. A. 
Publications Received. — Bangs, Outram. (1) Ona Small Collection 
of Birds from San Sebastian, Colombia. (Proc. N. Engl. Zo6l. Club, I. 
pp. 75-80.) (2) The Gray-breasted Wrens of the Sierra Nevada de Santa 
Marta. (Jd¢d., pp. 83, 84.) 
Batchelder, Charles F. An Undescribed Robin. (Proc. N. Engl. Zool. 
Club, I, pp. 103-106.) 
Bonhote, J. L. (1) On the Moult and Colour Changes of the Corn- 
