RECENT LITERATURE Common Diseases of Birds.L--Mr

64• RecentLiterature tOct.fAuk RECENT LITERATURE Common diseases of birds.l--Mr. Enrique Avila, of the staff of the Peruvian National Guano Administration, has completed four years of graduate study at the University of Wisconsin. In August, 1945,he is scheduledto return to Perd and to devote his labors to the conservation and development of the great hordes of guano birds, a major natural resourceof his country. Mr. Avila has recently publisheda non-technical but comprehensiveaccount of dis- easesof w/ld b/rds, with particular reference to those having agricultural significance or capable of transmissionto man. In successivesections of the paper he discusses diseasescaused by bacteria, protozoa, fungi, ectoparasites,and the several groups of organisms called worms. Here we learn that a malady indistinguishablefrom equine encephalomyelitishas a high incidence among birds, and that the notorious "duck sickness," formerly as- cribed to botulism, is in reality a form of this "sleeping sickness." Psittacosis,more familiar to ornithologists,is common to a large variety of birds in addition to parrots. It can be communicatedby way of many different secretionsand exuviae, and its mortality among human beingsis extremely high (30-40 per cent). True botulism has been described in more than 60 species of birds. Avian tetanus, diphtheria, tuberculosis,cholera, erysipehs, malaria, and the fungus infection known as asper- gillosis are also widely prevalent. Rabies and undulant fever have been induced experimentally, even though they have not yet been found in nature. Tularemia, so-calledbecause it was first recognizedin Tulare County, California (althoughsome of our British colleaguesinsist on forcing upon it the pseudo-Greekspelling "tularae- mia"), is another malady with important human bearings. Furthermore, starlings in England have been charged with being vectors of foot-and-mouth disease of cattle, while certain other birds can carry and perhaps distribute the organisms of anthrax, coccidiosisand similar plagues. The author brieflyrefers to the extraordinarynumber of avian ectoparasites,of which more than 200 specieshave been found in the relatively small area of the United States east of the Mississippi River. He remarks, however, that both exter- nal and internal parasitesare a normal characteristicof most wild animals and that only rarely doessuch infestation causethe death of a large proportion of the hosts.-- R. C. M•m•HY. The life of the hummin!lbirds.•Jacques Berlioz is undoubtedly the world's authority on hummingbirdsand it is to be hopedthat he will soongive us a complete and much needed revision of the family, to bring up to date the work of the late Eugene Simon, our common friend and inspirer, whose magnificent collection has been bequeathed to him. The present volume, however, is not a technical study, but a general account of the hummingbirds for laymen interested in these lovely creatures. It is significant and comforting to note that commercial publishers have found fit to ask the author for such a book and to hear that it had a successfulsale in present-day France. Berlioz writes with the clarity and eleganceof the French naturalists of the past two centuries. He knows how to make sciencesmile. During his extensive travels, he has also taken excellent photographsof hummingbirds' habitats throughout the Americas. Some of them illustrate the work, as well as two charming coloredplates and severalline drawingsafter his own sketches. AVILA, ENRIQUE. 'Enfermedades m//s corrientes entre las aves silvestres.' Boletin de 4a Com- pafiia Administradora del Guano, 21: 87-94. Lima, April, 1945, BERLIOZ.JACQUES. 'La Vie des Colibris.' Pp. 1-198, pl. 1-10, 5 figs. Histoires Naturelies, 4, Galfimard, Paris, 1944. Vol.1945 62]J RecentLiterature 6Z•3 In the first part of the book the author exposesthe biology of the birds: general characteristics,locomotion, diet and feeding,nesting and breeding. In the second part, he studies the different habitats, geographicaldistribution, and migrations. A short appendix is dedicatedto the hummersin captivity. More technicalornithol- ogistswould be well advised to follow Berlioz's exampleand to put their experience at the disposalof the generalpublic. The author of the presentwork deservesour congratulationsfor the excellent way in which he has succeededin fulfilling the wishes of enlightenedpublishers.--J•A• D•LACom•. Bird millration.•--In one of the four parts of a book dedicatedto animal migrations and published for the benefit of the reading public, Jacques Berlioz has dis- cussedbird migration in his usually precise, informative and attractive style. In five chapters, he reviews the definition and origin of bird migration, its general characters,variability and different influences,and migrationsin boreal,austral and intertropical regions. In the last one, he gives his conclusions,which are that bird migrationsare essentiallydue to the quest for food and to geographicalconsiderations linked to the modificationsthat have taken place on the earth. particularly after glaeiation periods. The other three parts of the work treat the migration of insects(L. Chapard), fish (L. Bertin) and mammals (P. Laurent) with a remarkable prefaceby Prof. L. Cuenot. --JEAN D•La½OUR. Modern bird study.•-The present volume has as its foundation a seriesof lec- tures given by the author at the Lowell Institute in early ! 944 and here revised and expanded for the reading public. It gives a conciseaccount of various phases of modern bird study with a broad glimpse of the subject that should acquaint the layman with many aspects of ornithology with which he is likely to be entirely m•,familiar. It isin nosense a technical manual although the workers in theornitho- logicalfield will appreciatethe fact that the subjectsdiscussed are frequentlyhighly technical. Mr. Griscom has simplified his statements in a readable style for the benefit of the general reader. The broad aims and proceduresof field observationas they have altered over the yearsmake a goodintroduction. The intelligenceand adaptability of birds are next discussed. Bird migration and generaldistribution and someof the specialproblems of distribution in different parts of the Americas are discussedin somedetail, and the principles underlying modern practices of classificationcomprise the concluding chapter. While these are the main headingsunder which the text is placed, the discussions are expandedto bring in outlying topicsthat are pertinent. There are few details of ornithologicalstudy that may be consideredeffectively alone and there are always radiating lines of interrelationship. The author has covereda great deal of ground and still kept the account running smoothly. Numerous concrete examples are cited and a variety of anecdote is added to lighten the story. A very brief list of references is given at the close of each chapter which might have been expanded without detriment but rather with some advantage to the reader who might wish to pursuecertain topicsfurther. Various of the works cited will, however,supply some of the additional references needed. The book may be recommendedto a wide public. especiallyto people who may sometimeswonder what an ornithologist does with his time.--J. T. Zxm•R. • BERU•OZ,J. 'Les Migrations d'Oiseaux.' Pp. 91-162, in Les Migrations Animales. L'Avenir de la Science, 17, Gallimard, Paris, 1942. e GE•SCOM,LUDLOW. 'Modern Bird Study.' Demy 8vo, X q- 190, 15 pls., I0 figs., June I, 1945. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. Price $2.50. 644 ReventLiterature [Oct.FAuk Galfipagos Finches.•--Ever since Darwin's historic visit to the Gallpagos Islands in 1835, the Gallpagos fincheshave furnished an extremely fertile field for ornithologicalstudy and speculation. At intervals there have been accountsof the islandsand their bird life with the focal point of the studiescentered in these birds. None of the reports has been exhaustive nor does the present account purport to be such, but there are many features brought out by Mr. Lack that add a great deal to our knowledge of the subject. The author visited the archipelagoin late 1938and early 1939and studiedthese finches in the field on various of the islands. A number of the birds of four species were taken to California for investigations in the aviary since their removal to England wasfound to be impractical. A large number of previouslycollected speci- mens in various collections in America and in the British Museum were examined. Mr. Lack's conclusionsare, therefore, based on first-hand information of wide extent. The first part of the report deals somewhatbriefly with the classificationof these birds in which some new proposalsare offered, although Swarth's classificationis, in the main, found acceptable. Several groups are called 'superspecies'although their componentsare not consistentlymaintained as speciesin all referencesto them; in someplaces binomials are usedbut in others,trinomials, which is a little confusing. Owing to the extensivevariability of someof thesebirds and the overlapof characters, some specimenshave been impossibleto identify with certainty, and intermedi- ates and variants have been assigned to different speciesby different authors or, in some cases, named as distinct. Some of this confusion still remains. In the curious easeof Geosigzamagnirostris, the three original specimensare larger than any that have been taken since Darwin's time and Lack supposesthat an evolutionary changemay have taken place in the intervening years. The breedingbehavior

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