Bibliographical Notices. 137 



application to this subject. In Dr. Hartlaub's most recent publi- 

 cation, the * System der Ornithologie West-Afrika's/ we have in a 

 connected form a complete summary of all that is known concerning 

 West African ornithology up to the latest date, and this given in a 

 manner that may well serve as a model for naturalists who are desirous 

 of writing similar essays upon any branch of natural history. 



A very interesting and copious introduction (in which a complete 

 review of African ornithology generally is given, together with many 

 remarkable facts concerning the geographic extension of the different 

 forms, and a summary of all that is known about the nidification and 

 propagation of the species) leads us to the main part of the volume, 

 which consists of an enumeration of all the birds which are known to 

 occur in Western Africa. Concise specific characters in Latin are 

 assigned to every species ; the more important synonyms and nume- 

 rous references to the works in which each has been noticed by former 

 writers are given, and, what is also important, as being a point much 

 too generally neglected by naturalists, the exact localities in which 

 each species has been found, together with the authority for such lo- 

 cality. The amount of labour which it must have cost to accomplish 

 this result cannot be easily estimated. It is no light task to draw up 

 specific characters for seven or eight hundred animals when they are 

 all ready before one's eyes ; but, when many of the types are scat- 

 tered about in the different museums of Leyden, Paris, Basle, London, 

 and Philadelphia, all of which must be formally visited, or seen by 

 the eyes of correspondents (who have to be kept up to their work 

 of replying to numerous interrogatories by thrice the corresponding 

 number of applications), it is no small praise to say, that the whole 

 has been finished in a manner which must be highly satisfactory to 

 every one who takes an interest in the progress of natural history. 



The portion of the African continent which Dr. Hartlaub has 

 embraced in his present treatise consists of the whole country lying 

 along the coast from Senegal southwards to Benguela, a distance of 

 nearly 30 degrees of latitude. But in very few points within this region 

 have explorers penetrated far into the mainland, and the number of 

 species, therefore (758), included in Dr. Hartlaub's catalogue, indi- 

 cates an Avifauna of no ordinary richness. The discoveries also 

 which have lately been made by P. B. Du Chaillu and other col- 

 lectors in Gabon (who have made some advances towards the unex- 

 plored interior), give promise of many interesting accessions to the 

 list as time progresses. 



Western Africa, as Dr. Hartlaub observes, in its general zoological 

 aspect, shows a rich originality. The productiveness and peculiarity 

 of the African fauna are here continually discovering new and unex- 

 pected treasures to the investigator. This is the realm of the giant 

 Gorilla, — here are the haunts of the most colossal of all serpents, — 

 this is the country whence marvellous Goliathi delight the vision of 

 the entomologist, — and where amongst the birds, the peculiar African 

 forms are met with in the greatest abundance and most characteristic 

 species. 



Of the 758 species of birds which Dr. Hartlaub includes in the 



