284 



Recetit Literature. 



TAuk 



LJuly 



Sage's List of Portland, Conn., Birds." — The interest in the study of 

 birds aroused by the exhibition of the Dr. William Wood collection of 

 Connecticut birds in the rooms of the Hartford Historical Society has 

 induced Mr. Sage, Avho is in charge of the collection, to print this list of 

 birds as the most practical way of anSAvering the frequently asked question 

 " What birds can we find around our houses ? " It is based on thirty years' 

 observation and, as stated in a prefatory note, includes only the " birds 

 seen to alight within the fenced enclosure about my house in the thickly 

 settled portion of the town of Portland, Connecticut." No less than 

 ninety-one species are given, each being briefly annotated as to the time 

 and manner of its occurrence, twenty species having been found to breed. 

 An additional list of ten species seen flying over is given. 



The notes here recorded forcibly illustrate the unexpected results 

 which may follow careful observations under apparently very unfavorable 

 conditions, and show that even the restrictions of town-life need not debar 

 one from the pleasures of bird study. — F. M. C. 



Worcester and Bourns's Contributions to Philippine Ornithology. =^ — 



This paper consists of (i) 'A List of the Birds known to inhabit the 

 Philippine and Palawan Islands, showing their distribution within the 

 limits of the two Groups,' and (2) ' Notes on the Distribution of Philip- 

 pine Birds,' the latter by Dr. Worcester alone. The first is a tabular list 

 shoAving the distribution of the species among the islands. In the 

 second paper the zoological affinities of the Palawan group are discussed, 

 the conclusion being reached that their affinities are with Borneo rather 

 than with the Philippines. The Philippines are then considered, each 

 member of the group being passed in review, in respect to our knowledge 

 of its ornithological fauna and its zoological affinities. A summary of 

 conclusions is given, consisting of fifteen propositions. It is found that 

 a "close relationship exists between the degree of difference in the 

 avifaunje of any two groups [of islands] and their present and past 

 geographical relationship, those islands which have been longest and 

 most completely cut off from their neighbors showing the highest degree 

 of differentiation." 



Steere's ' law of distribution' that "the genus is represented by but a 

 single species in a place," is discussed at length, with a reexamination 

 of the facts now available, including manj' data Dr. Steere did not have. 

 The result is a disagreement with Dr. Steere on a number of minor 



' List of Birds found about my house at Portland, Conn. By John H. Sage, 

 published by the Author. Pamphlet, i2mo. pp. 16. 



* Contributions to Philippine Ornithology. By Dean C. Worcester, A. B., 

 Assistant Professor of Zoology, University of Michigan, and Frank S. Bourns, 

 M. D., Ann Arbor, Mich. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. XX, No. 1143, 1898, 

 pp. 549-625. 



