338 



Recent Literature. ' \\\ 



its egg, but seems to quite discredit its existence. He also leters to a 

 kind of dimorphism in the plumage of the Cuckoo when joung, "for it 

 sometimes has a rufous plumage, and sometimes a \^\-y dark plumage." 

 The red phase appears not infrecpiently to have a height chestnut collar; 

 " thev are then called Hepatic Cuckoos, and are more often females than 

 males." — J. A. A. 



Eastman on ' Struthious Birds. ' — Dr. Eastman's paper consists of two 

 parts, both of unusual interest. The first portion relates to a fossil egg 

 of a Struthious bird found in the loess of northern China. This egg, 

 with another which was broken, was found bj a Chinese farmer, some 

 five years ago, who took it to Kalgan and disposed of it to the Rev. 

 William P. Sprague, an American missionary' resident there. Last 

 spring the egg was brought to this country by the Rev. James H. Roberts, 

 by whom it was offered for sale in the interest of Mr. Sprague, and was 

 eventually purchased for the Museum of Compai-ative Zoology, where it 

 is now deposited. It has thus a thoroughly authentic history. The 

 egg is about one third larger than the largest Ostrich egg, thus indicating 

 that " the fossil egg must be the legacy of a larger bird than the Osti-ich, 

 and very likely one differing in other respects as well as size." As early 

 as 1857 a similar egg was discovered in the Government of Cherson, in 

 South Russia. This egg later fortunately fell into the hands of Professor 

 A. Brandt of Charkow, who described it, under the designation Struthio- 

 litlms cherso7iensts, up to the present time a species known onh' from this 

 fossil egg, and to which Dr. Eastman now refers the present specimen. 



Ostrich remains (fragments of bones) have also been found in the 

 Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills of India and in the Lower Pliocene of 

 Samos, indicating a wide distribution of Struthious birds in early times. 

 In commenting on these facts, Dr. Eastman says: "The occurrence of 

 fossil Ostrich remains in the loess of such widely separated regions as 

 Northern China and Russia has a direct bearing upon the distribution of 

 Struthious birds. It enables us to speak positively with regard to the 

 former extension of the Struthionidte over Eur-Asia and x\frica since the 

 Pliocene, and gives rise to some inferences, within duly circumscribed 

 bounds, regarding the past history of Raft-breasted birds in general. It 

 is necessary to distinguish between what can be affirmed of the Ostrich 

 group, properly speaking, and what we can assume with more or less 

 plausibility concerning the rest of the so-called Ratitae." He notes that 

 "the best modern ornithological opinion holds that the division into 

 Ratitae and Carinatae is unnatural, since the differences between existing 



' On Remains of StrtUhiolitJnis chcrsonensis from Northern China, with 

 Remarks on the Distribution of Struthious Birds. By C. R. Eastman. Bull. 

 Mus. Comp. Zodl., Vol. XXXII, No. 7, pp. i -'7-144 (with plate). August, 

 1898. 



