454 Recent Literature. [^ u t k 



Mr. C. F. Underwood's collection, consisting "of 3,365 skins, representing 

 about 611 species and subspecies," recently purchased by Mr. John E. 

 Thayer of Lancaster, Mass. The collection contains many specimens 

 identified by the late Osbert Salvin, and is rich in young birds in nestling 

 plumage. "The dates on the labels cover nearly a score of years and the 

 collection is the result of Underwood's laying aside the better things 

 secured by him during this pei'iod." It is thus fortunate that this impor- 

 tant collection was secured by Mr. Thayer in the interest of American 

 ornithologists. 



Besides the new records for Costa Rica and the critical comment on 

 various species, eight species and subspecies are described as new. In his 

 remarks on the various forms of Stelgidopteryx, Mr. Bangs emphatically 

 reaffirms his " belief that there is but one species of Stelgidopteryx." — J. A. A. 



Clarke 'On the Birds of the Weddell and adjacent Seas.' — In his third 

 paper on the 'Ornithological Results of the Scottish National Antarctic 

 Expedition' Mr. Clarke 1 deals with the bird-life of the Antarctic Ocean 

 southward of the 60th parallel of south latitude, or of the Weddell Sea 

 and adjacent waters. Following an itinerary of the 'Scotia' in these high 

 southern waters, is a summary of the leading ornithological observations, 

 in which it is stated that four species of birds were added to the short list 

 of nine previously known to have occurred south of the Arctic Circle, 

 these additions including the Arctic Tern (Sterna macrura = paradiscea). 

 "A specially important ornithological feature of these voyages of the 

 'Scotia,' says Mr. Clarke, "was the presence in the Polar Sea of a number 

 of species of Petrels far beyond the southern limits of their breeding areas. 

 This seems to indicate that at the close of the southern summer numbers 

 of Hutton's Sooty Albatroses (Phcebetria cornicoides) , Cape Petrels (Daption 

 capensis), Giant Petrels (Ossifraga gigantea), Antarctic Petrels (Tlialassceca 

 antarctica), Giant Silver Petrels (Priocella glacialoides) , Blue Petrels 

 (Haloboena ccerula), and CEstrelata brevirostris) cross the Antarctic Circle 

 and sojourn among the polar ice ere they retreat northwards to pass the 

 winter in more genial oceanic resorts. It is possible, however, that some 

 of these visitors to the far south are non-breeding birds, and, if so, they 

 may have spent the entire summer there. The Tubinares are, as is well 

 known, great wanderers, but these very remarkable southern incursions 

 are, perhaps, to be explained by the extraordinary abundance of food to be 

 found in the waters of the far south in the summer and autumn, which 

 allures some of the birds further and further towards the pole, until the 

 ice-barrier, which almost girdles the Antarctic Continent, arrests further 

 progress, since at its base the food-supply entirely ceases. This, too, 



1 Ornithological Results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. — III. 

 On the Birds of the Weddell and adjacent Seas. Antarctic Ocean. By Win. Eagle 

 Clarke. F. R. S. E., F. L. S., The Royal Scottish Museum. Ibis, April, 1907. pp. 325- 

 349, and map. 



