VOl 1909 :VI ] Recent literature- 323 



rarely serious, as to its destruction of the eggs and young of other birds. 

 Its depredations upon poultry are local and sporadic, and doubtless 

 limited to a small proportion of the crow population of a given district. 

 In the present paper Dr. Cole recites several well authenticated instances 

 of considerable loss to poultry raisers from the fondness of crows for young 

 chickens and ducklings. The author favors the non-protection of the crow 

 by State laws, but believes it would be unwise to offer a bounty for their 

 destruction. The crow has its good points as a destroyer of injurious 

 insects, but in view of his general character as a nest-robber and chicken- 

 thief, and his propensity for pulling up the farmer's young corn, it is doubt- 

 ful whether his good deeds outweigh his many evil propensities. — J. A. A. 



Swarth on the Distribution and Moult of Mearns's Quail. 1 — Following 

 a short account of the habits and distribution (illustrated with a map) of 

 this quail (Cyrtonyx montezumce mearnsi) Mr. Swarth gives a detailed 

 account of the change from the juvenal to the first winter plumage, with 

 illustrations of the various stages, from photographs, showing the ventral 

 surface in thirteen specimens. Each stage of the change is described, 

 and attention is called, apparently for the first time, to the sexual differ- 

 ences observable in the juvenal plumage. — J. A. A. 



Godman's 'Monograph of the Petrels.'— Part IV, 2 dated April, 1909, 

 completes the genus ^Estrelata, and contains in addition the genera Pago- 

 droma, Bulweria, Macronectes, Fulmarus, Daption, Halobcena, and three of 

 the four 'species' of Prion. From the known intergradation of the four 

 forms of Prion (I. c, p. 286), three of them are evidently not properly en- 

 titled to the rank of species, and their interelationships would be better 

 expressed by the use of trinomials. Bulweria macgillivrayi is known only 

 from a single specimen, as is also /Estrelata fisheri, and there are only two 

 known examples of M. heraldica. 



As in previous parts, we have here a most satisfactory summary of the 

 history, characteristics, and relationships of these, for the most part, little 

 known pelagic birds. — J. A. A. 



Howard's ' The British Warblers,' Part III. — Part III 3 of this remarkable 

 monograph merits fully the liberal praise we bestowed upon Parts I and II 



1 Distribution and Molt of the Mearns Quail. By H. S. Swarth. Condor, Vol. 

 XI, No. 2, March-April, 1909, pp. 39-43, 1 pi. and 3 text figg. 



2 Part IV, pp. 223-296, pll. lxxix-xcix. April, 1909. For notices of previous 

 parts see Auk, XXV, 1908, pp. 244, 338; XXVI, p. 95. 



3 The British Warblers: A History with Problems of their Lives. By H. Eliot 

 Howard, F. Z. S., M. B. O. U. Illustrated by Henrik Gronvold, London: R. H. 

 Porter, 7 Princess Street, Cavendish Square, W. Part 3, February, 1909. Price, 

 21s. net. 



Blackcap, pp. 1-30, 1 colored plate of male and female, 8 photogravure plates of 

 male in various attitudes; Pallas's Warbler, 2 pp., 1 col. pi.; Radde's Bush-Warbler, 

 2 pp., 1 col. pi.; Chiff-chaff, 1 photogr. pi. of female; 4 maps, showing summer and 

 winter distribution of the Blackcap and Garden Warbler. 



