PilBLiCATioNs Reviewed. 4.5 



Publications Reviewed 



ludex to l*aiier« Relating to the Food of Birds by members of 

 tlie Biological Survey in Publications of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1885-1911. By W. L. McAtee. 1913. 



There are thirty-one pages of brief summaries of t\Yenty-seven 

 Bulletins, and 103 other titles, and thirty-six pages devoted to the 

 Index. This is a timely and convenient paper. l. j. 



Notes on the Iridescent Colors of Birds and Insects. By A. Mal- 

 lock, F.R.S. From the Smithsonian Report for 1911, pages 425-432 

 (with plates 1-3). 1912. 



After painstaking study and many tests the author is led to the 

 conclusion that "interference of one kind to another is the true 

 cause of natural iridescence color in all cases." l. j. 



On the Positions Assumed by Birds in Flight. By Bentley 

 Beetham. F.R.S. From the Smithsonian Report for 1911, pages 

 433-439 (with plates 1-S). 



Much has been compressed into the seven pages of description 

 and discussion, both in explanation of the sixteen figures and in 

 drawing conclusions from them. The author brings out the fact 

 that in various flight movements the feet and tail supplement the 

 wings, especially in retarding the forward movement preparatory 

 to alighting. Steering is accomplished by changes of position of 

 the body^ and wings in their resistance to the air. The tail is used 

 more as a corrective after the actual steering 'has been done by 

 wings and body than in initiating any change of direction. The 

 pictures are for the most part well chosen to illustrate the points 

 discussed. l. j. 



The Passenger Pigeon. Accounts by Pehr Kalm (1759) and John 

 James Audubon (1831). From the Smithsonian Report for 1911, 

 pages 407-424. By Edgar A. Mearns. (AYith Plate 1, colored.) 



A reprint of the accounts by these two men of the earlier days 

 in the palmiest days of this now extinct bird. Not only intensely 

 interesting in themselves, but most timely in these days when dis- 

 cussion is closing the record. l. j. 



Description of a New African Grass-Warbler of the Genus Cis- 

 ticola. By Edgar A. Mearns, Associate in Zoology, U. S. National 

 Museum. 



Cisticola prinioides wambugensis, Wambugu Grass-Warbler. From 



