180 Recent Literature. 



" the whole sternum is smaller and less stoutly developed, the coils of the 

 windpipe are confined to the anterior half of the keel, and it is this por- 

 tion alone that is enlarged." He finds that there are only about eight 

 inches of windpipe in the keel to twenty-seven inches in G, americanus, 

 while the walls of the sternal cavity are less perfectly ossified. In an em- 

 bryo Sandhill Crane, about ready to break the shell, the trachea was 

 found not to enter the sternum at all. In the Cranes, as in the Swans, 

 the extent of the convolutions varies greatly with age. — J. A. A. 



Minor Ornithological Papers.* — The " Chicago Field " has fre- 

 quently in its natural history department papers relating to ornithology, and 

 especially to game birds. The articles, while containing many facts of in- 

 terest, are mainly, we are sorry to observe, by pseudonymous wi-iters, and 

 their scientific value is thereby greatly imjiaired. In Volumes X, XI, and 

 XII (August 17, 1878 — February 7, 1880), we note the following (Nos. 

 49 - 54) that have veritable signatures : — 



49. [The Barnacle Goose and Lahrador Duck. '\ By Sjjencer F. Baird. 

 Chicago Field, X, p. 74. — Respecting the occurrence of the first-named 

 species in North America, and the former " abundance " and present scar- 

 city of the last-named. 



50. The Reed Bird [Dolichonyx oryzivora']. By A. C. Waddell. Ibid.,'K, 

 p. 135. — A short notice of its habits, and reference to its qualities for the 

 table. The wasteful manner in which these birds are sacrificed is evinced 

 by the following : " As they rise in immense flocks and wheel in circuits 

 round the fields, a discharge of both barrels, loaded with No. 12 shot, into 

 their midst, will frequently bring down fifty or more ; but three quarters 

 are lost, as they fall in the thick mass of growing rice, where the water is 

 from three to four feet deep ; those that are found being those that fall 

 near the edges or on the banks." 



51. Among the Pigeons. By Prof . H. B. Roney /tiW., X, pp. 345 -347. — 

 On the habits, methods of capture, and nesting of the Wild Pigeon, with 

 a highly interesting account of the "Michigan nesting of 1878." The 

 nesting area, situated near Pelosky, covered " something like 100,000 acres 

 of land," and included "not less than 160,000 acres within its limits," 

 being in length about forty miles by three to ten in width. The number 

 of dead birds sent by rail was estimated at 12,500 daily, or 1,500,000 for 

 the summer, besides 80,352 live birds ; an equal number were sent by water. 

 We have, says the writer, adding the thousands of dead and wounded ones 

 not secured, and the myriads of squabs left dead in the nest, " at the low- 

 est possible estimate, a grand total of 1,000,000,000 Pigeons sacrificed to 

 Mammon during the nesting of 1878." The article concludes with observa- 

 tions on the Michigan Pigeon law, and suggestions as to what the law should 

 be, and a notice of the efibrts made to check the shameful slaughter. 



52. Letters on Ornithology. By Di\ Elliott Coues, — Letters No. 19 



* Continued from page 115. 



