282 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 111. 



Papers of a more popular character include 

 ' Notes on a Captive Hermit Thrush,' by Daniel 

 E. Owen; 'Recent Investigations of the Food 

 of European Birds,' by F. E. L. Beal ; 'Some 

 Notes on the Nesting Habits of the White- 

 tailed Kite,' by Chester Barlow; ' Report of the 

 A. O. TJ. Committee on Protection of North 

 American Birds,' by William Dutcher, and an 

 account of the ' Fourteenth Congress of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union,' by the Sec- 

 retary, John H. Sage. Mr. Owen's experi- 

 ments with the Hermit Thrush go to show that 

 its digestion is extremely active, blueberries 

 being found to traverse the digestive tract in 

 one hour and a-half ; also that its capacity for 

 food was enormous, it being capable of digest- 

 ing its own weight of raw meat daily. The 

 report of the Committee on Bird Protection 

 shows that much work is being done in behalf 

 of the preservation of wild birds, with, in many 

 cases, highly encouraging results. The protec- 

 tion of the colonies of Terns at Muskeget 

 Island, Massachusetts, and Great Gull Island, 

 New York, has been continued, and both 

 colonies give evidence of considerable in- 

 crease. 



Under ' General Notes ' is the usual variety 

 of short communications giving items of inter- 

 est respecting various rare species or the cap- 

 ture of species at unusual localities ; under 

 ' Recent Literature ' a dozen pages are devoted 

 to reviews of recent ornithological publications. 

 The number closes with the ' Eighth Supple- 

 ment to the American Ornithologists' Union 

 Check List of North American Birds,' occupy- 

 ing twenty pages, and adding several newly 

 recognized genera and subgenera and some 

 twenty species and subspecies to the Check 

 List. Also two subgenera are raised to the 

 rank of genera, and three generic names are 

 changed, involving changes in the names of 

 nine species ; while the names of twenty other 

 species and subspecies are also changed, mainly 

 through thediscovery of earlier names than those 

 previously adopted in the Check List. The addi- 

 tions and mutations thus number nearly seventy. 

 Besides this, six recently described species and 

 subspecies, and nine proposed changes of nomen- 

 clature, are treated as not entitled to adop- 

 tion; while nearly a dozen other cases are de- 



ferred for final action later. Thus, within the 

 two years that have elapsed since the publica- 

 tion of the Seventh Supplement to the Check 

 List, it appears that nearly one hundred cases 

 have arisen requiring action by the A. O. U. 

 Committee on Nomenclature ; showing, for one 

 thing at least, no lack of activity on the part of 

 workers in North American ornithology. 



JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY, JANUAKY-FEBRU- 

 ARY, 1897. 



Comparison of the Carboniferous and Permian 

 Formations of Nebraska and Kansas : By Charles 

 S. Prosser. The classification of the Carbonif- 

 erous and Permian worked out in Kansas by 

 the author is extended to cover the correspond- 

 ing beds of Nebraska. In this opening paper 

 the details of the formations as they occur in 

 Nemaha, Johnson, Gage and Otoe counties are 

 given, with many facts of historical and local 

 interest. 



Evidences of Recent Elevation of the Southern 

 Coast of Baffin Land : By Thomas L. Watson. 

 The author, a member of the Cornell Green- 

 land expedition, concludes : (1) There is con- 

 clusive evidence of a recent elevation of 270 to 

 300 feet along the south and southeast coast of 

 Baflin Land, as indicated by raised beaches, difr 

 ferential weathering and remains of living 

 genera and species in beds associated with the 

 beaches. The movement seems not to have 

 been everywhere alike, but was only in part 

 slow and gradual. (2) Conditions strongly favor 

 a permanent movement on Big Island and in 

 Cumberland Sound. (3) The Baffin Land uplift 

 was probably coextensive with that described 

 by Bell and Tyrrell in the Hudson Bay region. 

 The paper includes a partial bibliography. 



Italian Petrological Sketches, III: By Henry 

 S. Washington. The author continues his 

 discussion of Italian volcanics, treating the 

 Bracciano, Cerveteri and Tolfa regions. Tos- 

 conite, an acid effusive characterized miner- 

 alogically by the presence of basic plagioclase 

 as well as orthoclase with occasional quartz and 

 chemically by high silica and alkalies and (for 

 the acidity) high lime and low alumina, is de- 

 fined. The rock is the equivalent of Brogger's 

 quartz-trachyte-andesite and approaches his del- 

 lenite. The accompanying rocks are described 



