1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 59 



tained 5f>8 pages and 577 plates) is in part accounted for by the 

 introduction of a bibliography at the end of the book. This is a 

 useful addition, and one which saves space in the text, as references 

 are now given merely to a number to which the corresponding 

 citation can be found in the list. Part of the increase in hulk is 

 due to the extra figures, forty in number, a large proportion of which 

 are coloured, including some officinal as well as poisonous plants. 

 The new coloured blocks are hotter than the old, but though they 

 certainly enliven the pages and often give a better idea of the plant 

 than the average black and white figure, we question whether the 

 advantages gained are sufficient to justify the increased cost of pro- 

 duction. Certainly this is not the case in the English edition, where 

 the colour-printing shows to far less advantage. 



The Birds of India 



Tin: Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Edited by W. T. 

 Blanford. Birds, Vol. IV., byW. T. Blanford, F.R.S. 8vo, pp. i-xxi + 1-500. 

 London : Taylor & Francis. Price, 15s. 



It is with unfeigned satisfaction that we hail the completion of this 

 important series, which is calculated to further in no unimportant 

 degree our knowledge of the zoology of the Indian Empire. When 

 noticing the appearance of the third volume of the " Birds " (Natural 

 Science, VIII., p. 46, Jan. 189b'), we deprecated any undue haste in the 

 completion of the fourth volume, which was then under weigh. Little 

 ni( ire than two years have since elapsed, and yet Mr Blanford has 

 contrived to deal exhaustively with no fewer than twelve important 

 I hders, a task entailing enormous labour both in the museum and the 

 library. No doubt the undertaking has been considerably facilitated 

 by the volumes of the British Museum Catalogue which have recently 

 been drawn up by Messrs Ogilvie-Grant, Howard Saunders, Dr Sharpe, 

 and Count Salvadori ; but Mr Blanford has expended an immense 

 amount of thought and trouble upon his new book. We notice, by 

 the way, that he is unable to recognise the validity of Merganser coma- 

 tus of Salvadori. This Himalayan form of the Goosander (M. castor) 

 is usually just recognisable by its slightly shorter bill, and rather nar- 

 rower black borders of the tertiary quills in the male; but we think 

 that Mr Blanford has acted wisely in ignoring these fine distinctions. 

 Mr Finn's re-discovery of the Eastern White-eyed Pochard as an Indian 

 bird shows how much good work remains to be accomplished by up-to- 

 date workers in that country. A good figure of Nyroca baeri may, of 

 course, be consulted, by referring to the work of its original discoverer, 

 Radde (" Eeisen im Sliden von Ost-Siberien," Taf. xv.). We ques- 

 tion whether Mr Blanford was justified in including Amcrbracliyryn- 

 < litis in the Indian ' Ornis,' in the absence of any authenticated speci- 

 mens. It is at least as likely that the Pink-footed Geese recorded by 

 Blyth, Irby, and others may have belonged to the recently described 

 Anser neglectus of P. Sushkin (ef. Ibis. 1897, pp. 5-8). H. A. M. 



A New Ornithological Serial 



Avkula, Giornale Ornitologico Italiano per lo studio dell' Avifauna Italica, c per tutto 

 quanto ha relazione con gli uccelli in generale. Direttore Cav. S. Brogi, Siena. 

 Nos. 1-8, 1897, 1898. Annual subscr., 4 francs 50, post-free. 



The pursuit of ornithology finds so many enthusiastic devotees on the 

 Continent, that the establishment of an organ intended to deal speci- 



