228 Recent Literature. \^Kp^\ 



near the celebrated pitch lake at La Brea, in northeastern Venezuela. 

 The twenty days' observations there made are the basis of the present paper, 

 which gives a short account of the general character of the region, followed 

 by an annotated list of about 140 species of birds, of which 22 were breed- 

 ing. The notes on the habits of many of the species are quite extended, 

 occupying from half a page to several pages, as in the case of the Yellow- 

 backed Cassique. The paper closes with 'Part V. Ecological Conclu- 

 sions,' in which is made a comparison of the bird life of Venezuela with that 

 of the State of New York, with a full-page chart illustrative of "Arboreal 

 Adaptive Radiation." — J. A. A. 



Report on the Immigration of Summer Residents in England and Wales 

 in the Spring of 1908. — The fourth Report of the Committee of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club on the spring migration of birds into England and 

 Wales during 1908 forms, as usual, a special volume of the 'Bulletin' of 

 the Club.' This report is similar in character to those of previous years, 

 giving first an account of the weather for each day of the period covered 

 by the immigration (March 14-May 31), noting as well the daily arrivals 

 of birds, followed by details of the chief movements observed at the lights 

 during the same period, with maps for each of the thirty-three species sched- 

 uled. There are also notes on migratory movements during the autumn 

 of 1907, and records from the lighthouses and Hghtships for the same period. 

 As heretofore, generalizations relating to the general subject are held in 

 reserve and will not be attempted till the observations have been con- 

 tinued for a much longer period. — J. A. A. 



L. H. Miller on California Fossil Birds. — Recent exploration of the 

 Quaternary asphalt Rancho La Brea beds in southern California has 

 resulted in the discovery of abundant remains of birds as well as mammals, 

 part of which represent forms now living in California, while part belong 

 to extinct types only remotely allied to any known living forms. These 

 asphalt beds have for ages proved a trap for the unwary bird or mammal 

 that chanced to visit them. The oil from the oil strata that is forced to the 

 surface accumulates in the natural depressions of the surface as small 

 lakelets, which through evaporation become "masses of a plastic and 

 marvelously tenacious and tar-like substance." Mr. Miller describes ^ 

 these tar-pools as possessing "the mirror-like surface of water and, espe- 

 cially at night, might be mistaken for such; yet the bird whose wing-tip 

 touches the innocent looking surface, or whose foot plashes into its margin, 



1 Report on the Immigration of Summer Residents in the Spring of 1908: also 

 Notes on the Migratory Movements and Records received from Lighthouses and 

 Light-vessels during the Autumn of 1907. By the Committee appointed by the 

 British Ornithologist's Club.= Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. 

 XXIV, November. 1909. Pp. 235, with 29 maps. 



2 Fossil Birds of the Quaternary of Southern California. By Loj^e Holmes Miller. 

 The Condor, Vol. XII, Jan., 1910, pp. 12-15. 



