Jan., 1914 
PUBLICATIONS REVIEWED 
45 
tribution, will find here much valuable data ; 
and the amateur bird student and the school- 
teacher with nature classes in the region 
treated, will have a good, reliable text-book 
to fall back upon. It is to be hoped that the 
work can be brought to the attention of the 
two last mentioned groups in particular. 
It is fortunate, and also a recommenda- 
tion for the work published b}' Mr. Tyler, 
that such competent experts as J. Grinnell 
and H. S. Swarth were prevailed upon to 
edit the paper. — Frank S. Daggett. 
The Sequence of Peumages of the Rook, 
With Special Reference to the Moult of the 
“Face.” By H. F. Witherby. . (British 
Birds, London, vol. vii, no. 5, Oct. 1, 1913, 
pp. 126-139, pis. 4-11). 
In a great deal of the work that has beei; 
done on the molts of birds, little attention 
has been paid to the molt of the less con- 
spicuous feathers and feather-structures of 
birds, and it is a pleasure to find that this 
phase of the subject is coming into the prom- 
inence which it undoubtedly deserves. It is 
to be hoped that Mr. Witherby’s investiga- 
tion of the molts of the “face” of the Rook 
(Corvus frugilegus friigilegus) is the herald 
of much more study along this line, and 
that the interesting results of his research 
may stimulate others to do this sort of work, 
realizing that the .less conspicuous structures 
are not necessarily less interesting or less 
significant. Throughout all the literature on 
the subject of molts, scarcely a reference can 
be found to the shedding of filoplumes, or of 
the down feathers of adult birds which possess 
them, nor has the reviewer hitherto been able 
to find any thorough account of the molts 
of the rictal and other facial bristles, ear- 
coverts, eye-lashes, oil-gland “tuft,” or other 
modified feathers of the head and trunk. In 
a few cases the life and development of spec- 
ialized feathers have been studied, as for in- 
stance the “racket” feathers of the motmots ; 
but where is there any thorough light on the 
development, molt, and seasonal changes of 
the “brush” of a turkey, the powder down 
of herons, or the eye-lashes of any birds? 
Mr. Witherby devotes the first half of his 
article on the Rook to a study of the molt and 
history of- the feathers of those parts of the 
“face” which ultimately become bare, name- 
ly, the upper throat, chin, forehead, base of 
mandibles, and lores. The results which he 
obtained, well illustrated by the first seven 
plates accompanying the article, are very in- 
teresting in showing what the trend of evo- 
lution has been in bringing about the bare 
face of the European Rook {Corvus f. frugi- 
legus), and in demonstrating how such bare 
spots may have arisen in other birds which 
have them. The comparison with the East- 
ern Rook (Corvus f. lyastinafor) is particu- 
larly interesting. In the second part of his 
article, the method and general character of 
all ^ the molts of the species is carefully de- 
sci ibed, so far as contour and flight feathers 
are concerned; but here, again, as in other 
literature on the subject, no reference is 
made to the molt and acquisition of filo- 
plumes, relative to the contour feather witli 
which they are associated, nor is there any 
statement concerning the loss and replace- 
ment of eye-lashes ; moreover, it is not made 
clear what is the subsequent history of the 
nasal bristles. Nevertheless, Mr. Witherby’s 
article is undeniably a step in the right direc- 
tion, and it is hoped that it will be followed 
by further work along similar lines.— Asa C. 
Chandeer. 
A Study of a Coeeection of Geese of the 
Branta canadensis Group from the San 
Joaquin Valeey, Caeifornia, By Harry S. 
Swarth (Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool.’, vol 12, no. 
1, pp. 1-24, 2 pis., 8 text figs.). 
In a paper of 24 pages Mr. Swarth sets 
forth his conclusions as to the status in Cali- 
fornia and probable relationships of the four 
forms of the Branta canadensis group, as de- 
rived from the study of one hundred and 
fifty-three skins. The author finds that great 
confusion has arisen in connection with our 
effort to understand these geese, because of 
the highly variable character of certain 
marks, notably the white cervical collar and 
the black throat line, marks which have pre- 
viously been relied upon for diagnostic dis- 
tinction. This variability is convincingly 
illustrated by two tinted plates, which exhibit 
twenty heads of B. c. inininia, of which no 
two are alike in pattern, or even in correla- 
tion of the discredited characters. Mr. 
Swarth finds that measurements, especially 
of bills and tarsi, when taken in connection 
with the general color tone of under plumage, 
whether light or dark, afford the only reli- 
able basis of distinction. He concludes from 
these data that the only lireeding form in 
California is Branta canadensis canadensis ; 
that Branta c. occidentalis has no status as a 
species of California, but that it is a nearly 
resident form occupying the humid northwest 
coast region, where it probably intergrades 
with canadensis upon the east and hutchinsi 
on the north ; and he predicts that a closer 
study of conditions in the Northwest will 
show that hutchinsi and minima do not, as 
has been frequently asserted, overlap in 
their breeding ranges, but that a regular 
gradation of size from hutchinsi to minima 
will be found to exist as the region is 
traversed — though whether from east to west 
or south to north does not yet appear. This 
