Recently published Ornithological Works. 407 



are painted by nature, darkest on those parts which tend to 

 be most lighted by the sky's light, and vice versa.'' This is 

 illustrated by a diagram and nine figures from pliotograplis : 

 the most successful of these being no. 8, which is said to repre- 

 sent an American Woodcock on its nest, but in which our eyes 

 have failed to detect any bird whatever. Otocorys alpestris 

 hoyti, Melosp'iza fasciata juddi, and Chordeiles virginianus sen- 

 netti are three new subspecies from Northern Dakota^ described 

 by Mr. Louis B. Bishop; while Mr. G. K. Cherrie finds 

 another new subspecies in Chordeiles virginianus asseriensis, 

 from San Jose, Costa Rica. Mr. Witmer Stone straightens 

 out, in his way, the group of Great Horned Owls, and distin- 

 guishes a large form from the Great Plains as Bubo virgini- 

 anus occidentalis. An important and critical notice of the 

 'Birds of Heligoland,'' from the pen of Dr. J.A.Allen, 

 deserves attention, for that Avriter has borne strongly upon 

 several points which many ornithologists on this side of the 

 Atlantic have none the less noticed, but about which, for 

 obvious reasons, they did not care to speak so freely. Con- 

 nected with this subject are two papers by Mr. F. M. Chapman, 

 and one by Dr. Allen, in the Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. ; 

 and respecting these Saunders would have written a few 

 words, if he could have obtained the last sheet of Dr. Allen's 

 paper before leaving for the Spanish Pyrenees. But the 

 topic, and its treatment by American naturalists, will not 

 be forgotten by the early autumn, and can afford to wait. 



71. Beal on the Crow Blackbirds and their Food. 



[The Crow Blackbirds and their Food. By F. E. L. Beal. U.S. Depart. 

 Agricult. ; Ornith. & Mamm., Bulletin No. 6, p. 233.] 



" Crow Blackbird '' sounds strange in Europe, but in 

 North America is the well-known name of certain Crackles 

 of the genus Quiscalus, which are among the most familiar 

 and conspicuous birds in the Eastern United States and 

 Mississippi Valley. The present essay relates to the Purple 

 Grackle, Q. quiscala, and its two subspecies, Q. q. aeneus and 

 Q q. aglaus (according to the nomenclature of the American 

 ornithologists), and to the naturr of their food. To ascertain 



