176 Recently published Oniitholor/icai Works. 



The Auk. 



[The Auk. A quarterly journal of Oruithology. Cambr'idjre, Mass., 

 U.S.A. Vol. xxxii. 1915.] 



The volume of the Auk for 1915 contains a lar^^e number 

 of articles on various aspects of Ornithology, and it is 

 impossible to do more here than indicate the contents of 

 some of the more attractive ones. 



We may preface our remarks by stating that a new 

 drawing of the GTreat A.uk has been prepared by Mr. Fuertes 

 and appears on the brown cover of the January number 

 for the first time. It is decidedly an improvement on the 

 former design in every way. 



Among the anatomical papers is one by Dr. H. von 

 Ihering, of the Sao Paulo Museum in Brazil, iu which he 

 combats the proposed separation of the Furnariidae as a 

 distinct family from the Dendrocolaptidye. This proposal, 

 advocated by Ridgway and other authors, is based mainly 

 on the supposed schizorhinal characters of the skull of 

 the Furnai'iidae as opposed to the holorhinal skull of the 

 Dendrocolaptidse. Dr. von Ihering shows that, as Fiir- 

 bringer has already made clear, the so-called schizorhinal 

 modification in the Furnariidae is only superficial and of no 

 morphological value, and that there are no anatomical 

 grounds for separating these two groups into distinct 

 families. 



Dr. Shufeldt's memoir on the anatomy of the last 

 Passenger Pigeon has already been noticed in our pages. 

 He also describes a new species of Hesperornis {H. nion- 

 tana) from Cretaceous beds in Montana, and some further 

 account of an extinct Cormorant [Phalacrocorax macropus 

 Cope) from the tertiary beds of the same State. 



In an interesting communication Mr. 0. Bangs discusses 

 the question of the dichromatic phases of certain Herons, 

 especially Buforides brunnescens of Cuba and its relation to 

 the widely-spread B. virescens. Apparently every variation, 

 from the extreme erythristic phase to individuals hardly 

 separable from the common B. virescens, occur, while the 



