Recently published Ornithological Works. 348 



XIX. — Notices of Recent Ornithological Publications. 



[Continued from p. 207.] 



30. Abbott on the Osprey. 



[The Home-Life of the Osprey. Photographed and described by Clinton 

 G. Abbott, B.A., with some Photographs by Howard H. Cleaves. 

 London : Witherby & Co., 191L 54 pp., 32 pis.] 



This is one o£ the ' Bird-lover's Home-life Series ' published 

 by Messrs. Witherby, former volumes haviug been devoted 

 to the Golden Eagle, the Spoonbill, Storks, and Herons. 

 Full details are given, in excellent style, of the Osprey's 

 habits, while the illustrations are well calculated to exhibit 

 to the best advantage the position of the nest, the callow 

 young, and the poses of the bird at the different stages 

 of breeding. Our readers may like to compare with these 

 ]\'Ir. Bahr's paper in ' British Birds ' Magazine, vol. i. 

 pp. 17-22, 40-43. 



31. Beebe on the Hoatzin. 



[A Contribution to the Ecology of the Adult Hoatzin. By C. William 

 Beebe. Smithsonian Report for 1910, pp. 527-648. Washington, 1911.] 



The Hoatzin {Opisthoconms cr is fat us) is certainly one of 

 the most anomalovis forms of living birds, and any further 

 information on it and its eccentric mode of life that can be 

 obtained will be much valued. Mr. Beebe, having himself 

 seen the bird alive and paid great attention to its remarkable 

 structure, is, above all men, qualified to give us his opinion 

 on the subject. This he does in the present memoir, which is 

 full of information on this extraordinary creature. After a 

 short epitome of its history since its discovery by Hernandez 

 some 250 years ago, Mr. Beebe gives us an account of 

 its distribution, structure, nesting, and parasites, and adds his 

 own field-notes on it taken in Venezuela and British Guiana. 

 The Hoatzin is " unquestionably a vegetarian," though small 

 fishes are occasionally found in its stomach. Two or three 

 marshy plants appear to furnish its principal food. Tiie nests 

 are very similar to those of the small Green Heron (Butorides 



