536 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



55. Butler on the Finches and Weaver-birds of the Sudan. 



[The Finches and Weaver-birds of the Sudan, being Notes on the 

 group containing the Birds injurious to grain-ci'ops. By A. G. Butler, 

 Superintendent, Game Pi'eservation Department. Khartoum.] 



This is an extract from the Fourth Report of the Wellcome 

 Tropical Reseai'ch Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial 

 College, Khartoum. It deals with two great Families of 

 Finches (Fringillidse) and Weavers (Ploceidge), which are 

 probably by far the largest consumers of corn in the 

 Sudan. 



Mr, Butler's essay is written in plain and instructive 

 language, and contains excellent information concerning the 

 70 species which are accused by the corn-growers of the 

 Sudan of being a pest. But Mr. Butler believes that 

 a very small proportion of them will be found to be ap- 

 preciably injurious to agriculture. So far as his knowledge 

 goes the damage seems to be done entirely by the Finches, and 

 by the abundant Weaver-birds of the genera Hiiphantornis, 

 Xanthopliilus, Quelea, and, to a smaller degree, Pyromelana. 



In an additional note Mr. Butler informs us that, as he 

 has lately discovered, the large Calandra \j^rk(Melanocoryphu 

 himaodata) occasionally commits great destruction in the 

 dura crops. 



Two coloured plates in this paper represent Quelea 

 eethiopica and Hyphantornis tceniopterus. 



56. Clydc'-Todd and Worthingtoa on the Birds of the 

 Bahamas. 



[A Contribution to the Ornithology of the Bahama Islands. By W. 

 E. Clyde-Todd and W. W. Worthingtou. Ann. Carnegie Mus. vii. 

 1911.] 



The Bahama Islands, though belonging to the Neo- 

 tropical Region, seem to be one of the favourite resorts 

 of our ornithological brethren in America, and indeed well 

 deserve their close attention. After Mr. Riley and Mr. Chap- 

 man, Mr. Clyde-Todd has taken up the task of exploration, 

 and Avith the efficient aid of Mr. Worthingtou, has secured a 

 valuable series of 591 specimens of birds for the Carnegie 



