Oo4 Recent Literature. Uuly 



Jamaica, which have previously been reviewed. 1 Mr. D. W. May in an 

 article 2 on Cattle in the West Indies, mentions a blackbird of Porto Rico 

 that follows the cattle about and picks the ticks off of them. He says: "I 

 have seen them grasping the tail with both feet and feeding upon the ticks 

 infesting the hind quarters of the animal. They will also stand upon the 

 ground beneath the animal and jump up picking ticks, getting one at each 

 hop. To this bird is largely due the fact that in our fields ticks are not so 

 plentiful as in the Southern States." This bird undoubtedly is Quiscalus 

 brachypterus, the species mentioned by Bowdish 3 as feeding on vermin 

 on cattle near Mayaguez. — W. L. M. 



Grinnell on 'The Linnet of the Hawaiian Islands.' 4 — The paper is 



an important discussion of color as found in the Carpodacus mexicanus group 

 of birds, and the principal facts on which it is based are summarized in the 

 following quotation: "A series of male Linnets collected in the Hawaiian 

 Islands in 1910 are all of the yellow or orange type of coloration. The 

 Linnet of the Hawaiian Islands is known to be of exotic origin. It is 

 believed to have been introduced less than forty years ago, the imported 

 individuals having been obtained in the vicinity of San Francisco, Cali- 

 fornia, where the common red type is known to have prevailed ever since 

 birds have been observed in the region, a period of sixty years at least." 

 For an explanation of the color variations, the author inclines to the 

 latest biological theories as shown by citation of another paragraph, viz.: 

 "A deficiency in capacity, of the germ, for the formation of the appropriate 

 enzyme may have been intensified through close breeding until the condi- 

 tion was reached where the amount of enzyme produced in the feather 

 anlage is insufficient to carry on oxidation of tyrosin beyond the yellow, 

 or at farthest, the orange stage." He admits that "the explanation 

 offered is tentative to the last degree," but what is more surprising is that 

 he virtually excludes food as a possible factor in producing these results. — 

 J. D., Jr. 



Grinnell on 'The Modesto Song Sparrow.' 5 — If this new form, Melo- 

 spiza melodia mnilliardi, takes rank with its predecessors it will bring the 

 number of recognized races up to twenty-one. The form heermanni once 

 occupied alone the central valleys of California, where now there are several 

 aspirants of which this is the newest. — J. D., Jr. 



i.\uk, XXVIII, Jan., 1911, p. 136. 



2 Porto Rico Hort. News, III, No. 4, April, 1910, p. 59. 



3 Auk, XX, Jan., 1903, p. 13. 



'The Linnet of the Hawaiian Islands: A Problem in Speciation. By Joseph 

 Grinnell, Univ. of California Pub. in Zool., Vol. VII, No. 4, pp. 179-195. 



6 The Modesto Song Sparrow. By Joseph Grinnell. Univ. of California Pub. 

 in Zool., Vol. VII, No. 5, pp. 197-199. 



