^O Recent Literature. [j^^"J' 



general reader on the various phases of bird migration should be more 

 or less vitiated throughout by the ill-devised theory which pervades and 

 colors an otherwise praiseworthy book, — a work, in other respects, as 

 regards its general character, far in advance of Mr. Dixon's previous one 

 bearing the same title. — J. A. A. 



Marsh on the Affinities of Hesperornis.^ — Professor Marsh here reaf. 

 firms the correctness of his conclusion, published in 1880, that "the 

 Struthious characters, seen in Hesperornis, should probably be regarded 

 as evidence of real affinity, and in this case Hesferornis would be essen- 

 tially a carnivorous, swimming Ostrich." Authors who had not seen the 

 original specimens, says Prof. Marsh, "seem to have accepted without 

 hesitation the striking adaptive characters of the posterior limbs as the 

 key to real affinities," till soon "the Ratite affinities of Hesperornis were 

 seldom alluded to in scientific literature." He has remained silent, " leav- 

 ing to future discoveries the final decision of the question at issue." This 

 decision, Prof. Marsh thinks, is now on record, Prof. Williston having 

 discovered near the original tj^pe locality a remarkably perfect specimen 

 of Hesperorjiis, with the feathers in place, showing that Hesperornis had 

 "the typical plumage of an Ostrich." Reference to Prof. Williston's 

 paper (Kansas University Quarterly, Vol. V, No. i, Juh^ 1896, pp. 53, 54, 

 pi. ii) shows that there is still ground for a difference of opinion as to 

 the Struthious character of the downy feathers found on the tarsus and 

 head of Prof. Williston's specimen of Hesperornis. — J. A. A. 



Stone on the Genus Sturnella.^ — Mr. Stone's paper has relation mainly 

 to the forms referred to 5. magna mexicana, the Rio Grande Valley phase 

 of which group Mr. Stone now separates as a new subspecies, under the 

 name .S. w. hoopesi. This form resembles magna in the coloration of the 

 lower parts, it lacking the yellow on the malar region, while the upper 

 plumage is lighter even than in neglecta, with the tail bars " more distinct 

 than in any of the other races." True 6". m. mexicana thus becomes 

 restricted to southern Mexico and Central America, >S. m. hoopesi taking 

 its place in the A. O. U. Check-List. The Florida bird, which has some- 

 times been referred to mexicana, Mr. Stone finds is not separable from 

 Louisiana examples, and that these latter differ but little from specimens 

 from southern Indiana and southern Illinois. He considers it therefore 

 inadvisable to separate this Gulf coast phase from magna. — J. A. A. 



^ The Affinities of Hesperornis. By O. C. Marsh. American Journal of 

 Science, III, April, 1897, pp. 347, 348. 



^ The Genus Stiirnella. By Witmer Stone. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 1897, pp. 146-152. 



