^°''l9i^"^] Recent Literature. 89 



Mearns on New African Birds. ^ — In this, his thirteenth paper on 

 new African birds, Dr. Mearns first considers the subspecies of Turacus 

 hartlaubi of which he recognizes four, T. h. medms (p. 3) Mt. Kenia, 

 T. h. crissalis (p. 3), Mt. Mbololo and T. h. ccerulescens (p. 4), Mt. Gargues, 

 being described as new. He also describes the following new forms, 

 Corythteola cristata yalensis (p. 5), Yala River; Cursorius gallicus meruensis 

 (p. 5), Meru River; C. temminckii jebelensis (p. 6), Lado Enclave; Rhin- 

 optilus africanus raffertyi (p. 7), Iron Bridge, Hawash River, Abyssinia, 

 and Sarothrura loringi (p. 8), Mt. Kenia. — W. S. 



Beal on the Food Habits of Thrushes.^ — This report is supple- 

 mentary to Bulletin No. 171, which treated of the Robin and Bluebirds, 

 and is devoted to Townsend's SoUtaire and the speckled breasted thrushes 

 of the genus Hylocichla. Increased material and further investigation have 

 led to much more detailed analyses of the food of these lairds than those 

 which have appeared in other publications of the Biological Sm'vey, but 

 the general conclusions remain the same. The thrushes are largely in- 

 sectivorous, while the vegetable portion of their food (40.72 per cent) 

 consists mainly of wild berries, their destruction of domestic fruits being 

 neghgible. — W. S. 



Miller on Three New Genera of Birds. ^ — Mr. Miller is doing excel- 

 lent work in carefully examining the structural characters of various birds 

 with regard to their generic position, as many species when first described 

 were hastily referred to genera to which they have no close affinity and a 

 certain number have never been removed. A case in point is the large owl 

 Bubo blakistoni Seebohm and its ally B. daerriesi. These Mr. Miller finds 

 are not referable to Bubo at all being evidently northern representatives 

 of the Fish Owls (Ketupa), and he establishes for them a new genus Strin- 

 gonax (p. 515) with B. blakistoni as the type. 



For Hydropsalis lyra Bp. he proposes the genus Uropsalis (p. 516) and 

 for Picus striatus Mlill. the genus Chryserpes (p. 517) on account of differ- 

 ences in relative length of quills and toes, and details of bill structure, 

 from the genera Hydropsalis and Centurus to which they have been respec- 

 tively referred. Chryserpes also exhibits striking peculiarities in coloration. 



Mr. Miller besides erecting these new genera considers the status of 

 allied groups already separated which is perhaps of even greater impor- 



> Descriptions of Seven New Subspecies and One New Species of African Birds 

 (Plantain-Eater, Courser, and Rail). By Edgar A. Mearns. Smitlisonian Misc. 

 Collns., Vol. 65, No. 13, November 26, 1915. 



2 Food Habits ofthe Thrushes of the United States. By F. E. L. Beal. Bulletin 

 No. 280, XJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture, September 27, 1915, pp. 1-23. (For sale by 

 Supt. of Documents, Gov't. Printing Office, Washington, D. C, 5 cents.) 



3 Three New Genera of Birds. By W. DeWitt Miller. Bull. Amer. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., XXXIV, Art. XVII, pp. 515-520, New York, October 20, 1915. 



