296 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



has been shown in preparing it, or that any very great addition 

 to our knowledge of the subject has been made. The particular 

 species of Swans and Geese which occur in Iceland are still far 

 from being determined with precision; and whether the more 

 remote districts of the country do or do not afford a breeding- 

 ground for some of those Waders of which the eggs are the deside- 

 ratissima of the oologist must yet be regarded an open question. 

 The reasons which have induced Herr Preyer to include one or 

 two species in his list, as Tringa ochropiis [Gmelin, not " Tern.") 

 and Fuligula rufina, are of the very slightest value. The appearance 

 of Ruticilla tithijs on Videy is singular, but we do not think the 

 author's supposition that it was nesting is a very probable one. 

 So also is the occurrence of our garden- favourite, Turdus menda , 

 so long ago as 1823 ; and this statement is confirmed by a recent 

 English traveller, Mr. Metcalfe, who mentions a similar instance 

 — though, not having 'The Oxonian in Iceland ' at hand, we are 

 unable to quote the passage. We believe Herr Preyei'^s sug- 

 gestion (p. 393, note) that the Wren of Iceland is identical with 

 that of the Faroes, Troglodytes horealis (Fischer, J. f. 0. 1861, 

 p. 14), rather than with our own T. parvulus, to be correct. This, 

 of course, might have been expected ; but that it is unsafe to pre- 

 dicate on such matters is shown by the undoubted fact that the 

 black-and-white Wagtail of Iceland is the continental Motacilla 

 alba, and not, as one would have been inclined to suppose, our 

 M. yarrelli. 



The author seeks to distinguish himself by describing a Skua's 

 skin obtained by him at Reykjavik as belonging to a new species, 

 to which he applies the denomination of Lestris thuliaca (p. 418). 

 Not having seen his specimen, we, of course, cannot say that he 

 is not justified in so doing ; but, if so, he should certainly have 

 furnished us with more efticient characters than those he has 

 given as diagnostic. We have taken some paius to understand 

 them, and the conclusion we have arrived at is that Lestris 

 thuliaca is founded on an example of the dark-complexioned 

 variety of L. richardsoni, slightly mottled with white on the 

 shoulders, belly, and chin ! Though an additional knot in the 

 tangled nomenclature of the smaller European Skuas is a positive 

 crime, we are ready to forgive it for Herr Preyer's ingenious ex- 



