338 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



accidentally in California at all. Of the other three sub- 

 species — B. c. canadensis, B. c. hutchinsi, and B. c. minima — 

 only the first-named has been found breeding in California ; 

 there is a single summer bird with eggs, taken at Lake Tahoe 

 at a considerable elevation, by Ray (' Condor,' 1912, p. 70), 

 in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of 

 California; "while all three forms occur mingled together 

 during the winter months in the San Joaquin valley and 

 elsewhere in the State. 



Thomson on Bird-marking in Scotland. 



[Aberdeen University Bird-Migration Inquiry : First Interim Eeport 

 (1909-1912). By A. Landsborough Thomson, M.A., M.B.O.U. Scottish 

 Naturalist, 1912, pp. 153, 169-174, 217-224, 241-248; 1913, pp. 29-36, 

 79-84, 121-131.] 



The Scotch bird-marking scheme was started under the 

 auspices of Mr. A. L. Thomson early in 1909, and this report 

 contains a complete account of all the birds recaptured up 

 to the date of writing, arranged in systematic order. The 

 rings used in this enquiry are of aluminium without any 

 special clasp or fastening, and are marked " Aberdeen 

 Univ.''^ with a number. More than 200 helpers have taken 

 part in the actual marking of birds, and by far the greatest 

 number of birds have been marked in Aberdeenshire. As 

 Mr. Thomson justly states, it is far too early as yet to deduce 

 any final results, but we notice one interesting case of a 

 hand-reared young female Mallard, marked in Aberdeenshire 

 in June 1910, which was recaptured in July 1911 in northern 

 Denmark, where it was described as a mother in charge of 

 a brood of fifteen ducklings. 



Todd on new Neotropical Birds. 



[Preliminary Diagnoses of apparently new Birds from Tropical America. 

 By W. E. Clyde Todd. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washiugton, xxvi. 1913, 

 pp. 169-174.] 



The Carnegie Museum at Pittsburg continues to acquire 

 fresh collections of zoological material from the rich col- 

 lecting-grounds of South America, and in this short paper 

 Mr. Clyde Todd has drawn up preliminary descriptions of 



