Recent Ornithological Publications. 381 



3. German Publications. 



Of the * Journal fiir Ornithologie ' we have received the first 

 three numbers for the present year, and, more lately, the sixth 

 and concluding part of last yearns volume, which has been long 

 delayed for the sake of a plate representing the recently re- 

 cognized Wren of the Faroe Islands and Iceland {Troglodytes 

 borealis, Fischer), which is in many respects a very interesting 

 little bird. When all the articles merit attention, it is almost 

 an invidious task to name those most deserving of praise. The 

 last number in particular contains three important papers by Dr. 

 Cabanis, Dr. Gundlach, and others. In the second number for 

 this year, Herr Preyer commences a paper on the Great Auk 

 {Alca — or, as he prefers to call it, Plautus — impennis), which, we 

 suppose, is the work formerly announced (see antea, p. 297). 

 As yet he has treated of little else than its systematic position. 

 Herr E. Schiitt also furnishes an account of his discovery of the 

 nesting of the Nutcracker {Nucifraga caryocatactes), of which, 

 on account of the interest taken in this subject by English 

 oologists, we have given a translation in our present Number. 

 In the first number for 1862, Professor Blasius has some re- 

 marks on the Great Northern Falcons, from which it appears 

 that he now acquiesces in the views taken by Mr. John Hancock 

 on this subject. We are greatly pleased to find that the opi- 

 nion of our countryman, to which we lately called attention*, 

 is adopted by so high an authority. 



The eighth part of Herr Badeker's oological work has been 

 delivered to subscribers in England. We must repeat our regret 

 that so little attention is apparently paid to the authentication 

 of the specimens figured. In the present number there is a 

 representation of an egg of Halia'etus albicilla with deeply 

 coloured spots, and the accompanying letter-press merely men- 

 tions that such eggs are rare. Now we do not venture to pro- 

 claim that they may never occur, but we are not aware of any 

 recorded proof of the accuracy of the above assertion, nor have 

 we ever seen an egg of this species marked with any true colour. 



* Ibis, January 1862, p. 46, "Review of the new Continuation of Naumann." 



