232 Recent Literature. [aptIi 



not only to thresh out the whole question, but, in the event, as seems 

 probable, of an entirely adverse verdict being recorded against the bird, to 

 specify definite methods for keeping its numbers within proper bounds." 

 He adds, however, that "there seems to be hardly a crop that is grown 

 that is not said to suffer more or less at some time of the year from the 

 depredations of this bird." 



The illustration of this excellent work comprise a large folding map of 

 the County of Kent, colored to indicate altitude for each hundred feet 

 from sea level to 500 feet ; half-tone plates of the typical haunts of various 

 species of birds, and of some of the rarer species; also facsimile reproduc- 

 tions of the original plates of the Dartford Warbler (from Pennant's ' Zo- 

 ology,' 1776), the Cream-colored Courser (Latham's 'Synopsis,' 1785), 

 the Kentish Plover (Lewin's 'Birds of Great Britain'), and the Sandwich 

 Tern (Boys's 'History of Sandwich,' 1784), all drawn from specimens killed 

 in Kent, and hence of special local interest. — J. A. A. 



J. Grinnell on New North American Birds. — Two new North American 

 Cowbirds marked the closing days of 1909, Mr. Grinnell, in a paper ' bear- 

 ing date December 31, 1909, describing a new form based on a series of 

 eleven males from Himiboklt County, Nevada, under the name Molothrus 

 ater artemisice, while Dr. L. B. Bishop, in 'The Auk' for January, 1910 

 (mailed January 3), described as new a form from Saskatchewan as Molo- 

 thrus ater dwighti. These two forms are both characterized as larger than 

 the two previously recognized forms of this species {ater ater and ater 

 obscurus), with a slenderer bill, but as not presenting any color differences. 

 Whether the two new forms are separable from each other is not very 

 clearly evident from the descriptions, since the measurements in the one 

 case are given in millimeters and in the other in inches, rendering the 

 reduction of the one system to the other necessary before a comparison 

 can be made. This is unfortunate and should not be countenanced, es- 

 pecially since the metric system is now almost universally the standard 

 in all scientific investigations except in ornithology, where the tendency 

 in some instances is to adhere to an obsolete method for the convenience 

 of the few who are willing to allow temporary inconvenience to outweigh 

 and retard the adoption of a new but generally approved standard. 



Mr. Grinnell contends that his new Great Basin form is derived from 

 southern or Mexican stock — from obscurus rather than from ater — and 

 we believe that few who have given consideration to parallel cases will 

 disagree with him. We are surprised, however, at his attitude respecting 

 the nomenclature of these and similarly allied forms in other groups. He 

 says (in a footnote to p. 277): "As to the nomenclatural treatment of the 



1 A New Cowbird of the Genus Molothrus, with a note on the probable Genetic 

 Relationships of the North American Forms. By Joseph Grinnell. University of 

 CaUfornia Publ., Zool., Vol. V, No. 5, pp. 275-281, 1 text figure. December 31, 

 1909. 



