Bibliographical Notices. 53 



buffeting with its wings the hand that captures it. The note is 

 harsh, not unhke the croaking of a bull-frog *." 



There are several closely allied species : C ceneaj as figured 

 (f. e. the head) by Mr. G. R. Gray in his illustrated work on 

 the ' Genera of Birds/ has a large round knob at the base of its 

 upper mandible, of which the Indian species never presents the 

 slightest trace ; and a beautiful specimen before me, from Bor- 

 neo (?), exhibiting this knob, differs also from the Indian species 

 in several other particulars f. Another, from the same region, 

 exactly resembles the Indian species, except in its inferior size, 

 having the wing but 8 inches, and the rest in proportion ; this 

 is doubtless the C. cenea of Raffles^s list, described as " exceeding 

 15 inches in length"; so that in Sumatra there would appear to 

 be closely allied diminutives of both the Indian species %• C.per- 

 spicillata of Java and the Moluccas also approximates a good 

 deal, but is readily enough distinguishable. 



Of the third great genus of fruit-eating pigeons, Ptilinopus, 

 also largely developed in the Eastern Archipelago and Polynesian 

 isles, no Indian species has been discovered; the Pt. Elphin- 

 stonii of Sykes (seemingly) appertaining to the same group of 

 ordinary pigeons as the British Cushat or Ring-dove. 



[To be continued.] 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



A Natural History of the Mammalia. By G. R. Waterhouse, Esq., 

 of the British Museum. Illustrated with engravings on wood and 

 coloured plates. London, H. Bailliere. 



The first volume of this excellent work, in which every species in 

 the class Mammalia will be described in detail, is now completed. 

 The author is already favourably known to the public by various 

 monographs, and by papers in this Journal, on the Rodentia, Marsu- 

 piata and other animals. His former connexion with the Zoological 

 Society and his present position in the British Museum (where he is 



* C. sylvatica. I have found these birds only in one part of my district, 

 — in the jungles bordering on P*lidnapore. They were in a party of eight 

 or ten, perching on detached trees, in a wide plain of jungle-grass. The 

 notes are deep and ventriloquons. By the Oorias it is called Sona Knhooira, 

 or Golden Pigeon ; it is also termed Burra (or Great) Hurrial.—T. 



f It seems to be the " Sumatran Pigeon, no. 12," of Latham. 



I The true Coiiimba (snea of Linnaeus is founded on the Palumbus mo- 

 luccensis of Brisson, whose figure and description perfectly accord with the 

 Indian bird, though it is stated to be from the Moluccas. The knob-fronted 

 species will stand as C. myristicivora, Scop. (C globicera, Wagl.), founded 

 on Sonn. Voy. Nouv. Guinee, pi. 102. Mr. Gray erroneously applies the 

 name myristicivora to Sonn. pi. 103, which is the bicolor of Scopoli. — 

 H.ES. 



