276 



Recent Literature. [July 



Stejneger's 'Review of Japanese Birds.' — Parts VIII * and IX f of Stej- 

 neger's 'Review of Japanese Birds' treats of the Nutcracker and the Wrens. 

 In the first the synonymy, number, and relationships of the forms of the 

 Nutcracker are considered at length. Two forms, a slender-billed eastern 

 (Nucifraga caryocatactes), and a thick-billed western (N. macrorhyn- 

 c//os), are recognized, in accordance with the published conclusions 

 of Dr. Blasius and V. von Tschusi-Schmidhoffen, as opposed to those of 

 Mr. Seebohm. In the second paper two forms of Japanese Wrens are dis- 

 tinguished, namely, Troglodytes (Anorthura) futnigatus, inhabiting 

 Japan proper, and T. f. kurilensis (subsp. nov.) from the Kurile Islands. 

 -J. A. A. 



Stejneger and Lucas on Pallas's Cormorant. J — While the extinct Great 

 Auk of the North Atlantic has formed the subject of numerous papers, in- 

 cluding several voluminous monographs, and is represented in museums 

 by about So skins, 70 eggs, and "countless bones," the great extinct Pal- 

 las's Cormorant {P/ialacrocorax ferspicillatus Pall.) of the North Pacific 

 is comparatively little known, a good detailed description of it being first 

 printed in the present paper, from the original manuscript of the late 

 Professor Brandt of St. Petersburg. So far as known, according to Dr. 

 Stejneger, the only remains of the bird extant are two excellent fully 

 adult specimens in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of 

 St. Petersburg, another in the British Museum, a fourth in the Leyden 

 Museum, and a few bones (including the principal parts of the skeleton) 

 in the United States National Museum, the latter collected by Dr. Stej- 

 neger on Bering Island. The only locality where Pallas's Comorant has 

 been seen within historic times was at Bering Island, where Steller found 

 it, in 1741, in great numbers; but it appears to have been wholly extermi- 

 nated during the following century, mainly by man's agency. Though 

 not flightless, like the Great Auk, it was of heavy build and of slow loco- 

 motion, in the air as well as on land, and thus fell an easy prey to the 

 natives of the island, who used it for food during the long winters. 



A large colored plate of the British Museum specimen, by Wolf, is 

 given by Elliot in his 'Birds of North America,' and the same specimen is 

 figured by Gould in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Sulphur. These, 

 with a few wood-cuts, comprise the published illustrations of the species. 



As already intimated, the only bones of this species extant in museums 

 are those collected by Dr. Stejneger, in 1882, at Bering Island. These 

 comprise the rostral portion of a cranium, a lower mandible and the right 

 ramus of another, two nearly complete sterna, three nearly perfect pelves, 

 various limb bones, and a few vertebrae. Detailed descriptions of them, 



* Review of Japanese Birds. VII. — The Nutcracker (Nuci/raga caryocatactes mac- 

 rorhynchos). By Leonhard Stejneger. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1888, pp. 425-432. 



t IX. The Wrens., Ibid., pp. 547-548. 



j; Contributions to the Natural History of the Commander Islands. X. — Contribu- 

 tions to the History of Pallas' Cormorant. By Leonhard Stejneger and Frederic A. 

 Lacis. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., Vol. XII, pp. 83-94, pll. ii-iv. (Published Feb. 5 . 

 1890.) 



