'i9ii J Recent Literature. 277 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Swarth on the Birds and Mammals of the 1909 Alexander Alaska 

 Expedition. 1 — The 1909 Alexander Expedition to parts of the Sitkan 

 district of Alaska not visited by the expedition of 1907 was made by the 

 author of the present paper, assisted by Allen E. Hasselborg of Juneau, 

 during the period from April 1 to October 1, 1909, their means of trans- 

 portation being a gasolene launch. Sixteen islands and six mainland 

 localities were visited. The report contains a detailed itinerary and a 

 large-scale map of the whole Sitkan district, as now commonly restricted. 

 The material collected consists of 604 bird skins, and nearly as many 

 specimens of mammals. The localities visited are described in detail, 

 followed by a report on the birds (pp. 26-112), another on the mammals 

 (pp. 113-151), and several pages entitled 'Distributional Considerations' 

 (pp. 151-159). The list of birds numbers 137 species and subspecies, the 

 mammals, 27 species and subspecies. 



The report on the birds relates to "distribution, moult, variation, and 

 biographical notes." The notes on habits and on the local distribution 

 of the forms in the Sitkan district are often quite extended, as are fre- 

 quently the notes on individual and seasonal variation. The report is 

 thus an important contribution to the ornithology of the region. While 

 no new forms are described, the material obtained is considered, as far as 

 it goes, as generally confirmatory of the new local forms described by 

 Grinnell in 1910, gathered during the Alexander expedition of 1908 to 

 this same region. The conspecific relationship of Macrorhamphus griseus 

 and M. scolopaceus is discussed at some length, the conclusion reached 

 being that the two forms are only subspecifically distinct, as given in 

 the last edition of the A. O. U. Check-List (not, however, cited in this 

 connection). Sphyrapicus ruber is given as S. varius ruber. Picoides 

 americanus fumifrons Grinnell is referred to P. americanus americanus, 

 the second specimen of this supposed race having "not a trace of the 

 smoky suffusion beneath" shown by the type. The breeding form of 

 Passerculus is referred to P. sandivlchensls savanna, "as a matter of con- 

 venience," since it more nearly resembles this eastern form than it does 

 P. s. alaudlnus. As Mr. Swarth has himself "seen no conclusive evidence" 

 of the intergradation of J unco hy emails and J. hy emails oreganus (the 

 "occasional specimens" combining the characters of both forms he would 

 consider as hybrids), oreganus is given full specific rank. The long dis- 

 credited Hlrundo erythrogasler 'palmerl' and Dendroica coronata 'hooverl' 

 are here revived, and the doubtfully identifiable name gracilis is given 

 preference over striata for the western form of Melosplza llncolnl. 



1 Birds and Mammals of the 1909 Alexander Alaska Expedition. By Harry S. 

 Swarth. University of California Publications in Zoology, Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 

 ^-172, pll. i-vi, 3 text-figs. January 12, 1911. 



