of the B. M. Catalogae of Birds. 403 



prising to see S. aciiieuta merged under S. carolinensis ; for 

 the differences, if slight, are constant. But yet stranger is 

 it to read that S. villosa, from China, is a subspecies, "scarcely 

 specifically distinct from the widely ranging North-American 

 S. canadensis." On the contrary, there are few Nuthatches 

 more markedly distinct. The tail-feathers of the American bird 

 are black, with a white subterminal bar and brown extremities. 

 The Chinese has black rectrices with whity-brown extremities. 

 The throat is ashen instead of white, there is no white nuchal 

 collar, nor any black patch on the side of the neck ; the 

 black cap does not extend more than half as far ; the back 

 is a more ashen hue, and the whole underside russet-brown 

 instead of rich fawn-colour. 



Occasional misprints cannot be avoided by the most careful 

 compiler ; but there are, unfortunately, exceptionally nume- 

 rous errors in this volume which cannot be attributed to the 

 printer. Some of these are mere oversights, as when we are 

 told four times over that the tarsus of Parus lugubris is over 

 2*7 in. But in the references to authorities they continually 

 occur, to the great inconvenience of the student. Thus, 

 p. 80, we find P. Z. S. 1863, pp. 336, 451, instead of 1863, 

 p. 336, and 1870, p. 451 ; on p. 190 we find Ibis, 1879, 

 p. 147, when it ought to be Ibis, 1877, p. 357. But it is 

 needless to waste time on errata, as we trust a sheet of them 

 will soon be published. Our complaint against the volume 

 is that it gives no sign, except in such cases as the Grey 

 Shrikes, of the care and labour which has been bestowed on 

 the previous volumes. We do not wish to be captious or 

 unreasonable critics ; but ornithologists have a right to ex- 

 pect that the papers of the describers of species (especially 

 when they have been field -naturalists working on the spot, 

 and giving the life-habit of the bird, like Mr. E. L. Layard) 

 should at least be looked at, and their specimens examined, 

 instead of being passed over sub silentio. Ornithologists 

 have also a right to expect that the compilers of the catalogues, 

 while each is quite free to adopt his own views of classifica- 

 tion and arrangements, should yet be, in some slight degree, 

 consistent in their method, and — may we add? — that some 

 one at least should verify the references. 



