1918,] Recently published Ornithological TVorks. 311 



III the case of another species^ Pteroglossus aracari, young 

 birds were obtained — remarkable-looking youngsters, with 

 well-developed heel-pads on which they rest, and move about 

 refusing to make use of their feet and toes. 



Many other interesting discoveries are recounted, and 

 suggestions for the solution of many curious problems con- 

 nected with tropical bird-life are made by Captain Beebe 

 and Mr. Hartley in this fascinating volume; while the third 

 author, Mr. Howes, has devoted himself entirely to ento- 

 mological problems. The work is profusely illustrated with 

 reproductions of photographs and drawings, and our only 

 quarrel with it is its great weight, due to the use of heavy 

 paper ; but we can strongly recommend it to all our readers 

 who are interested in the problems of tropical bird-life. 



Chapman on Colombian Birds. 



[The Distributiou of Bird-life in Colombia ; a contribution to a 

 biological survey of South America. By Frank M. Chapman. Bull. 

 Amer. Mus. N. H. xxxvi. 1917, pp. x+729, 41 pis., 21 text-figs.] 



The United States of (Colombia, formerly known as 

 New Granada, is the northernmost of the South American 

 Republics, and is probaljly for its size the richest of all the 

 countries of the world for the variety and abundance of its 

 bird-life. Mr. Chapman estimates that there are about 

 1700 species and subspecies of birds recorded from Colombia. 

 Up to quite recently our knowledge of this rich avifauna 

 was almost entirely based on native-made " Bogota ^'' skins, 

 which are made primarily for export for millinery pur- 

 poses. 



A few collectors such as Claude Wyatt (c/. Ibis, 1871, 

 p. 113), T. K. Salmon [cf. P. L. Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 

 1879, p. 486), and F. Simons, who collected in the Santa 

 Marta region in 1878-9 for Messrs. Godman & Salvin 

 {cf. Ibis, 1879, p. 196, and 1880, p. 114), had made a 

 beginning of the exploration of the riches of these regions, 

 and their collections have now all found a home in the 

 Natural History Museum in London, In 1910 the American 



