Recent Oi'nithological Publications. 113 



are sorry to say, sometimes neglects tins very necessary precau- 

 tion. In his first volume \vc have the names Melanodnjas, 

 Poecilodryas, and Stigmatops proposed and used without any 

 further indication of generic characters than the reader can 

 himself gather from his own knowledge of the species assigned 

 to them. We are quite ready to admit that generic division is a 

 mere matter of convenience ; but in order that it may be so, it is, 

 and has always been regarded as, absolutely essential that such 

 divisions should be defined. The cases we have cited are bad 

 enough ; but we cannot even allow that the good old classical 

 rule is obeyed in the following paragraph from the second 

 volume, which is apparently intended as the definition of a new 

 genus, Ptistes : — 



" The birds for which I propose the above generic appellation 

 ai'c, in my opinion, sufficiently different in form and colouring 

 to wax'rant their being separated from Aprosmictus, and formed 

 into a new genus. At present three species are known to me. 



* * * They have a very laboured flight, consequent on the great 

 size of their wings, which has suggested the generic name of 

 Ptistes, i. e. winnower." 



It is with extreme regret that we make these depreciatory 

 remarks ; but the interest of our science seems to call for some 

 such protest. After all, the imperfections of which we have 

 spoken are but slight drawbacks to the practical utility of this 



* Handbook,^ and they may be easily remedied in a second 

 edition, which, unless we greatly overrate the ornithological 

 yearnings of the " Corn-stalks," we venture to predict will be 

 soon called for. 



In some " Notes on the Chatham Islands," by Mr. H. H. Tra- 

 vers, published in the ' Journal of the Linnean Society,^ a short 

 account of the ornithology of those islands is given, which we 

 here reproduce, seeing that, as it is included in the Botanical 

 division of the Society^s publication, it might otherwise escape 

 our readers' attention. 



" There are at present but few land-birds either on this 

 [Chatham's] or on Pitt's Island. Formerly the White Crane 

 [Herodias flavirostris) , the Bittern {Botaurus melanotus), an 



N. S. VOL. II. I 



