1919-] Recently published OrnUhologicaJ Works. 355 



Bird Notes. 



[Bird Notes. The Journal of the Foreign Bird Club. Edited by 

 Wesley T. P.ige. Ser. 3, vol. i. Jan.-Dee. 1918.] 



Last year's volume of ' Bird Notes/ thougli perliaps not 

 so stout as some of the preceding ones,^ contains a number 

 of useful and instructive articles on avieultural subjects. 

 One of the principal contributors is Mr. AV. S. Baily, who 

 writes on the Grey Plover, Quails, Parrots, and the Pata- 

 gonian and Egyptian Geese. He has also a good description 

 of the colour-changes, as he calls them, of the Whydahs, 

 Coliostriit/uis laticauda and Brepanoplectes jacksoni. In 

 captivity, at any rate, these changes can hardly be called 

 seasonal, as they recur irregularly, nor indeed does the lack 

 of the so-called nuptial plumes in any way interfere with 

 the breeding of these Whydahs, but of course this may be 

 due to the interference caused by change of habit. There 

 are also a number of practical notes by the editor on the 

 planning of aviaries and other snch subjects. The Marquis 

 of Tavistock writes on the Australian Grass Parakeets and 

 deplores their early extinction in their native land. The 

 Splendid {Neophema splendidu) appears to be already gone 

 and the allied form, tlic Turquoisine, and others appear to be 

 on the verge. Can nothing I)e done to save the native 

 Australian avifauna? 



Dr. Hopkinson concludes a series of articles on the 

 Whydahs, which he commenced in the previous volume, and 

 has now begun an elaborate list of all the birds which have 

 been known to breed in captivity in the British Islands or 

 abroad, with full references to the original account. 



Among shorter articles is one by Mr. H. Whistler con- 

 taining his observations on the nesting and other habits of 

 LioptUa capistrata near Murree, a Himalayan hill-station; 

 and Mr. E. W. Harper sends two very interesting photo- 

 graphs of Vultures, which congregate in enormous numbers 

 at a spot a few miles outside the limits of Calcutta, where 

 the bodies of dead horses and cattle are partially made use of. 

 Though there are no coloured plates in the present volume, 

 there are some pleasing uucoloured plates reproduced from 



