i8q4. some new books. 65 



both in placing the Hornbills as a sub-family of the Hoopoes 

 (Upupida:'), and retaining the Striges in close proximity to the 

 Caprimulgi, instead of reverting to their time-honoured position, 

 with the Accipitres. 



Both cases will, we anticipate, create some discussion. In the 

 case of the Striges, we fail to see how anyone, after he has carefully 

 and impartially gone through the mass of facts which have been 

 collected, as if for the very purpose of converting sceptics 

 (pp. 235-241), can conscientiously stand by the old arrangement. 



" The division of the Oscines into families is as yet very unsatis- 

 factory," and we are referred for the present to the British Museum 

 catalogues. The Australian region is to be regarded as the birth- 

 place of the Oscines, from whence they have overspread the whole 

 habitable earth. 



Towards the end of the book some fifteen pages have been 

 devoted to the Geographical Distribution of Birds, and extremely 

 interesting reading it proves. The systems of Sclater, Wallace, 

 Huxley, Newton, Sharpe, and others, are briefly reviewed, and then 

 follows a short " Examination of birds as to their utility for dividing 

 the earth into ornithological regions,"' which is fitly terminated by a 

 contribution from Dr. Gadow himself, in which he recognises two 

 main regions, A — Notogaa,and B — Arctogaea; the former embracing 

 an Australian and Neotropical region, the latter a Palaeotropical and 

 Periarctic region. 



Now that Dr. Gadow has said his last word, the question for the 

 Ornithologist in the future will be not how much is, but how much is 

 not known on any particular question upon which he may require 

 mformation. The author is ro be congratulated on the way in which 

 he has fulfilled his most difficult and laborious task. W. P. P. 



Horns and Hoofs ; or, Chapters on Hoofed Animals. By R. Lydekker. 8vo. 

 Pp. 411, with 82 woodcuts, London : Horace Cox, 1893. Price 15s. 



This is a popular w^ork, comprising a series of articles originally 

 contributed to the Field and Land and Water, and now reissued in 

 collective form, with some revision. The volume is beautifully 

 printed and well illustrated, and will prove of interest not only to the 

 sportsman, for whom it is primarily intended, but also to the 

 naturalist who happens to be unfamiliar with the latest discoveries 

 and most advanced views in reference to " Big Game " of all kinds 

 except elephants and Carnivora. The first chapter deals with the 

 Wild Oxen, which are all included by Mr. Lydekker in the genus 

 Bos; and the various groups are described under the headings 

 (i) aurochs and zebus, or true oxen; (2) gaur ; (3) yak; (4) bison; 

 and (5) buffalo. The musk-ox (Ovibos) is placed separately at the 

 end. The second chapter treats of the Wild Sheep, which are 

 essentially mountain animals, and are especially numerous in the 

 highlands of Central Asia. They are subdivided into (i) the big- 

 horns of North America and Kamschatka ; (2) the argalis of Central 

 Asia ; (3) the urials of Asia, with the moufflons of Asia Minor and 

 Europe ; and (4) the bharals, as represented by the true bharal 

 of Little Thibet and the Barbary sheep of North Africa. The Goats 

 are next discussed and arrayed in five groups, as follows : — (i) The 

 ture of the Caucasus, with the so-called Spanish Ibex, the sheep-like 

 goats ; (2) the pasang, or true goats ; (3) ibex ; (4) markhor ; and 

 (5) the tahr, or Hemitragus, of India. The x\ntelopes and Deer are 



F 



