112 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



author's /. harmandi is identified with Mr. Hume's Geronticus 

 davisoni, and placed as Graptocephalus davisoni. The third 

 genus proposed is Lampribis, with L. olivacea, Du Bus, as its 

 type; this species is also figured (pi. li.). 



Before leaving the genera we have one point to notice ; 

 and that is the application of the name Falcinellus by both 

 authors^ who attribute the first use of it to Bechstein (1802). 

 A reference to Bechstein^'s work shows that that author called 

 the Glossy Ibis Numenius falcinellus, and in no way em- 

 " ployed the latter title in a generic sense. Failing Falcinellus, 

 Plegadis, Kaup (Skizz. Entw. Gesch. p. 82^ 1829)^ appears to 

 stand next in order of date ; and thus Plegadis falcinellus 

 (L.) would be the correct name for the Glossy Ibis. As 

 regards the synonyms of this species, Dr. Reichenow shows 

 that Scolopax rufa, Scopoli, is an older title than Numenius 

 igneus of Gmelin (Nov. Comm. Petr. 1771), and of course than 

 Numenius igneus of the ' Systema Naturae' of 1788, as Mr. 

 Elliot gives it. Both authors are, we believe, right in re- 

 ferring the Tringa autumnalis, Hasselq., to this bird; and 

 were it not that Hasselquist is not strictly binomial in his 

 nomenclature, a claim might be set up for the adoption of 

 autumnalis as the specific name o£ the Glossy Ibis, as the 

 English edition of Hasselquist's 'Travels' bears the date of 

 1766, thus coming within the recognized pale. 



We think Mr. Elliot in error in uniting the Australian 

 Ibis strictipennis with /. athiopica ; for not only does geo- 

 graphy reject such a view, but living birds in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens show characters which enable the two spe- 

 cies to be recognized without fail, even by ordinary observers. 

 Nor can we indorse Mr. Elliot's reasoning when he argues 

 that a character possessed by a species only during the 

 breeding-season, and not retained throughout the year, must 

 therefore be considered as of no specific value. 



Mr. Elliot gives us under each species a profusion of 

 references, those under Falcinellus igneus filling up a page 

 and a half. Still we miss some of the most important — such 

 standard works as Burmeister's ' Systcmatische Uebersicht,' 

 Pelzeln's 'Ornithologie Brasiliens,' and other books of equal 



