432 Bibliographical Notices. 



during the vernal and autumnal migrations, besides those which 

 breed or which hybernate in the island. The author judiciously 

 omits the specific descriptions, which may be found in the works of 

 Temminck, Gould, and other writers on European ornithology, and 

 which would have greatly increased the bulk of his volume. He con- 

 fines himself therefore to reciting the scientific and vernacular Sici- 

 lian synonyms of the species, and adds a multitude of original obser- 

 vations on the migrations, habits and geographical distribution of 

 the several species. In the latter department he was assisted by 

 M. Ledoux, who communicated many details on the birds of Algeria, 

 of which we previously knew but little, and which acquire additional 

 interest when compared with those of Sicily. 



Among the many valuable observations in this volume, we may 

 select a few by way of examples. The Saxicola aurita, which the 

 Prince of Canino in his ' Fauna Italica ' considers to be a peculiar 

 state of plumage of Saxicola stapazina, is nevertheless regarded by 

 M. Malherbe as a distinct species. He states that the two species 

 arrive in Sicily together, and leave it at the same period of the year, 

 a fact which would certainly indicate that the difference of plumage 

 in these two birds is not due to change of season. He confirms the 

 statement of Temminck that the blue-throated redstart with a white 

 pectoral spot is confined to the southern and central parts of Europe, 

 while the bird with a rufous spot on the breast forms a " constant 

 race " (in other words a species) peculiar to Northern Europe, and 

 only straying by accident into Germany, France and Britain. M. 

 Malherbe agrees with the Prince of Canino in regarding the three 

 yellow wagtails of Southern Europe (Budytes flava, cinereocapilla and 

 melanocephala) as distinct species from each other, and from the Bu- 

 dytes Rayi (more properly called by Pallas's name campestris) of Bri- 

 tain, France and the Pyrenees. The three former species arrive in 

 Sicily at different periods of the spring, and proceed to various parts 

 of Europe, the B. flava extending its migrations to the greatest 

 distance north. 



The author sets at rest the statement made by M. Cantraine to 

 M. Temminck, as to the supposed existence of wild turkeys in Sicily ; 

 the former admitting that he had been deceived so far as Sicily was 

 concerned, but repeating that he had been assured on good autho- 

 rity of the existence of these birds in a wild state on the coast of 

 Dalmatia. M. Malherbe supposes that they may have escaped from 

 some vessel to the shore ; but it appears to us far more probable that 

 the whole statement has reference, not to turkeys, but to the great 

 bustard, Otis tarda, which is commonly known by the name of " Din- 

 don sauvage'* among the Franks of the Levant. 



The beautiful Porphyrio antiquorum of Southern Europe, which is 

 still so rare in our collections, is stated to be abundant in Algeria. 

 In some parts of Sicily it is also very frequent, and is a permanent 

 resident. Its habits seem to be precisely those of the common moor- 

 hen (Gallinula chloropus), and our author states that these birds are 

 frequently kept alive in the poultry-yards of Sicily, so that they might 



