191 8.] Recently published Oniithological Works. 323 



Sivarth and Bryant on CaUfornian Geese. 



[A study of the races of the White-fronted Goose {Anser albifrons) 

 occurring- iu California. By H. S. Swarth and H. C. Bryant. Univ. 

 Cal. Publ. Zool. xvii. 1917, pp. 209-222; pi. 13, 2 text-figs.] 



It lias been pointed out to Messrs. Swartli and Bryant by 

 Judge Henshaw and other Californiau sportsmen that two 

 forms of White-fronted Goose occur in California in winter, 

 a larger and a smaller race. 



The authors have examined a considerable number of 

 specimens both in the flesh and in skin, and have satisfied 

 themselves that this is the case. The larger and rather 

 scarcer bird with a wing of 420-475 mm. has a darker head 

 and neck and 18 tail-feathers in the male and IG in the 

 fe'male, the edge of the eyelid is yellow causing the appear- 

 ance of a yellow eye-ring. 



The smaller and commoner bird, with a wing of 384- 

 422 mm., has a paler head and neck, 16 tail-feathers in both 

 sexes, and the edge of the eyelid greyish brown. 



Messrs. Swarth and Bryant believe that the smaller bird 

 is Anser albifrons albifrons, the Palsearctic form of the 

 White-fronted Goose, and that its breeding-range extends 

 across liehring Straits into western Alaska, and that fartiier 

 east its place is taken by the larger bird {A. a. gambeli), 

 which breeds throughout the rest of Arctic America. 



If this is so, and the authors^ careful investigations appear 

 to point to this conclusion, the occurrence of A. a. albifrons 

 iu the New World is an entirely novel fact, but it must be 

 remembered that so far the authors have only been able to 

 examine Californiau material, and have had no opportunity 

 of seeing any European or other North American breeding 

 or winter-killed specimens. 



Austral Avian Record. 



[The Austral Avian Record. Vol. iii, nos. 1-5. June 191o-Dec. 

 1917.] 



Since the outbreak of the war Mr. G. M. Mathews's 

 journal has not appeared so frequently, but we have received 



