^°^i9l2'^'^] Recent Literature. 123 



Another paper on the food of African birds is of greatest interest in its 

 bearing on the relation of birds to insects supposed to be protected by 

 their color, or to show by their color that they are not edible. Mr. G. L. 

 Bates m ' Further notes on the Birds of Southern Cameroon ' i gives a resume 

 of the results of six years' field examinations of the stomachs of African 

 birds. He found Coleoptera in 213 stomachs, Orthoptera in 177, ants in 

 57, other Hymenoptera in 8, scale insects in 32, bugs in 19, termites in 31, 

 slugs and snails in 24, spiders in 85, milhpeds in 20, and butterflies in none. 

 Ants, particularly those of tropical countries, are classed by theorists as 

 protected insects, and much is made of their so-called mimics among vari- 

 ous other insect orders, yet ants rank fourth in importance in this list of 

 bird foods. The theories that have been built up to explain the mimicking 

 coloration of many butterflies as a result of natural selection absolutely 

 require for their substantiation proof that birds regularly prey upon these 

 insects. Evidence thus far urged as proof of this habit is largely based on 

 experiments with captive birds. As the writer has pointed out in another 

 place,^ the results of such experiments have very httle if any value as 

 indicating beha\dor under natural conditions. Actual examinations of 

 bird stomachs reveal butterflies in an exceedingly low proportion of North 

 American birds, and the results of Mr. Bates's examinations during 6 

 years (in wliich time 178 stomachs were carefully examined with this par- 

 ticular point in mind), a larger body of good evidence than anyone else is 

 able to produce for tropical birds, are worthy of the serious consideration 

 of the selectionists who have postulated the necessary support for the 

 mimicry theories in the heretofore almost wholly unknown, hence easily 

 and agreeably hypothecated conditions of the tropics. — W. L. M. 



Todd and Worthington's ' A Contribution to the Ornithology 

 of the Bahama Islands.' — ^ This paper ^ is based upon a collection of 

 -591 skins obtained by Mr. W. W. Worthington, December 28, 1908, to 

 May 8, 1909, on the islands of New Providence, Great Inagua, AckUn, 

 Watlings, Andros and Abaco, and later acquired almost in its entirety 

 by the Carnegie Museum. The critical portion is by Mr. Todd and the 

 ' Narrative and Field Notes ' by Mr. Worthington. As the authors present 

 their information in two entirely distinct lists in which the same species 

 usually bears different numbers, an unnecessary burden is inflicted upon 

 any one who may consult the paper. Eighty-four species are treated 

 by Mr. Todd and one hundred and twenty by Mr. Worthington. 



In his introduction Mr. Todd discusses the zoological relationship of 

 the Bahamas both with relation to each other and to adjacent islands 



1 Ibis, 9th ser., V, No. 20, Oct., 1911, pp. 630-631. 



2 Joxim. Econ. Ent., 3, No. 5, Oct., 1910, pp. 437-438. 



» A Contribution to the Ornithology of the Bahama Islands. By W. E. Clyde 

 Todd and W. W. Worthington. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, VII, Nos. 3-4. 

 Issued, October, 1911. 



