Recent Ornithological Publications. 245 



extent of periodical literature in these days, it is beyond the 

 power of almost all private persons to read, and still less to 

 purchase, any but journals mainly devoted to their own special 

 pursuits ; and, without passing an opinion on the " Note sur le 

 nid du Megalophus regius," illustrated by a highly coloured 

 plate of the bird, its nest, and its eggs, which the editor him- 

 self contributes to the first number of his new magazine, we 

 cannot but wonder at its association with other articles treating 

 of chemical, botanical, and astronomical subjects. 



4. German. 



To the kindness of our good friend Dr. Hartlaub we owe the 

 receipt of a separately printed copy of an Introduction to the 

 Ornithology of the Feejee, Samoa, and Tonga Islands* — a subject 

 on which he, in conjunction with Herr Otto Finsch, has been 

 some time engaged, and i*especting which we look with im- 

 patience for the results of their united labours. In this in- 

 troduction we have first a rapid but comprehensive sketch of 

 the progressive steps in our knowledge of the ornithology of this 

 interesting part of the world, from the time of Banks and the 

 two Forsters, the shipmates of Cook, down to the present day. 

 This is followed by an equally concise physico-geographical 

 account of the three groups of islands ; and the essay is con- 

 cluded by a masterly summai'y of their ornithological features." 

 We suppose that detailed accounts of the species, in the manner 

 of Dr. Hartlaub^s well-known treatises on the birds of West 

 Africa and of Madagascar, will in due time make their appear- 

 ance, and we cannot doubt that the whole book, when com- 

 pleted, will be a worthy successor of those useful works. Mean- 

 while we venture, notwithstanding that the remark is of a 

 somewhat personal nature, to observe that the egg of Didunculus 

 has not been made known, as Dr. Hartlaub states, through the 

 means of our learned and excellent colleague Mr. Sclater, who, 

 we are quite sure, would be the last person to wish that any 

 credit due to another should be attributed to him. It is to Mr. 

 Bartlett, who rescued the interesting specimen from the man 



* Einleitimg zur Omithologie der Viti-, Samoa- imd Tonga-Griippe, 

 von Dr. G. Hartlaub. (Separatabdruck.) 8vo, pp. 24. 



s2 



