66 Recent Litcrcifui'e. [January 



Mexico." Its most striking character is the coloration of the tail in 

 the female, the rectrices being "broadly margined with gray, instead 

 of . . . . narrowly edged with olivaceous brown" as in C. cardmalis. 



The paper closes with a list of the birds observed which were not re- 

 corded* from Corpus Christi by Mr. Beckham, and another of those 

 recorded by Mr. Beckham but which Mr. Chapman did not find.— C. F. B. 



Chapman 'On the Color Pattern of the Upper Tail-coverts in Colap- 

 tes auratus.'t — Mr Chapman has availed himself of a large series of 

 skins of Colaptes to study the differences in color pattern of the upper 

 tail-coverts. He finds two distinct styles of marking with many varia- 

 tions and intermediate forms ; one of these consists of transverse barring ; 

 the other shows longitudinal or concentric markings parallel to the bor- 

 der of the feather. Mr. Chapman's material leads him to conclude that 

 the former pattern prevails among young birds and that a change to the 

 other style is accomplished through successive moults. 



He further believes that sufficient material — as yet lacking — of the 

 more southern species of the genus will show them to possess the trans- 

 versely barred pattern, which, if it should prove the case, might indicate 

 that C. auratus is a more recent and extreme offshoot from the main 

 Colaptes stock. Sex and locality seem to have nothing to do Avith these 

 differences, but apparently there is enough individual variation in the 

 markings to make satisfactorily definite conclusions difficult. — C. F. B. 



Minor Ornithological Publications. — Forest and Stream. 



This journal was last noticed in these pages in Vol. VH, pp. 3S8-398 

 (October, 1S90). In Vols. XXXV and XXXVI we note the following 

 (Nos. 21 13-2203). 



21 13. Hermit Tlirush {T. fallasii^ in Afarylaiid in Summer. By 

 Arthur Resler. ' Forest and Strcam,^Vo\. XXXV, No. i, July 24, 1S90, 

 p. II. 



2 1 14. Chitiese P/ieasa?its in America. Editorial, Ibid., July 31, p. 28. 



21 15. Pointer Dog and Mother Duck. By A. B. H. Ibid., Aug. 7, p. 

 48. — Aix sponsa. 



2 1 16. Woodcock in Town. By Hy. J. Growtage. Ibid. 



2117. Migration of Prairie Chickens. By Levi S. Kegale. Ibid., 

 Aug. 21, p. 88. 



2118. Six Weeks with a Sparro-v Family. By Julia M. Hooper. Ibid., 

 Sept. II, pp. 146, 147. 



21 19. California ^uatl. By A. Ibid., Sept. 25, p. 187. 



* Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., X, 633-696. 



t On the Color-Pattern of the Upper Tail-Coverts in Colaptes auratus. By Frank 

 M. Chapman. Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, Vol. Ill, No. 2, 

 Art. XXI, pp. 311-314. 



