Recently published Oridtholoyicul JJ'orks. 275 



discovered the colony, and a few shattered nests were all 

 that was left to tell of the once populous colony. The few 

 surviving tenants, if there were any, had fled in terror to the 

 recesses of wilder swamps. Wearily I descended from the 

 tree to find among the leaves and mould the crumbling bones 

 of slaughtered birds/' 



42, Jiidd and Beal on the Food of American Birds. 



[Four Common Birds of the Farm and Garden. By Sylvester D. 

 Judd. 



The Meadow-Lark and Baltimore Oriole. By F. E. L. Beal. Bepr. 

 from Year-book U.S. Uept. Agr. 1895, p. 405.] 



Messrs. Judd and Beal, Assistant Ornithologists in the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, have studied the food of 

 six common birds of the farms and gardens of the United 

 States, and now give us the results of their enquiries. These 

 are in every case in favour of the usefulness of the birds, 

 though more so in some cases than in others. " The Catbird 

 {Galeoscoptes carolinensis) and the Thrasher [Harjyorhynchus 

 rufus) subsist largely on a vegetable diet, consisting mainly 

 of fruits, though the Thrasher, especially in spring, has a 

 decided taste for grain and acorns.^' 



43. Koenig on the Birds of Algeria. 



[Reisen und Forschungen in Algerien. Von Prof. Dr. A. Koenig. 

 Mit 24 nach photographischen Aufnahmen gefertigten Schwartzdriick- 

 bildern, 14 mit der Hand colorirten Tafeln, 2 Farbendrucktafeln und 

 1 Karte, 1896.] 



In this volume Dr. Koenig gives us an interesting account 

 of his expedition to the Algerian Sahara in 1892-93, in the 

 course of which he penetrated into the interior as far as the 

 Oases of Gardaia and Waregla, visited by Canon Tristram 

 some forty years ago, but still insufficiently exjjlored. In 

 this part of the book an entertaining narrative is given of 

 the adventures of the author and Madame Kotnig, and 

 numerous allusions to the birds observed and obtained as 

 they went along are introduced. Twenty-four plates, taken 

 from photographs, illustrate some of the principal scenes and 

 incidents of the journey. 



