96 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



from being satisfactory/' Again, Steller's Eider is considered 

 to have " very slender claims to be regarded as a British 

 bird;'' and even the record of the Filey-Brigg one is only 

 admitted in a cold way as '' probable/' because strag- 

 glers have occurred at Heligoland, although the species is 

 known to be an annual winter visitor to Ncu'wegian waters, 

 and the specimen in question is in the possession of Lord 

 Scarsdale, the brother of its fortunate captor. 



Our remarks have extended to greater length than we in- 

 tended, and yet there is much more that might be said. We 

 are sure that Mr. Seebohm, who has been so unsparing in 

 his criticisms of others, will receive these mildly- worded com- 

 ments in the same good-humoured manner as they are penned, 

 for there would be no pleasure in bowls if they were not 

 associated with rubs. 



27. Sharpe and Wyatt on the Hirundinidas. 



[A Monograph of tlie Hirundinidse, or Family of Swallows. By R. 

 Bowdler Sharpe and Claude W. Wyatt. Part I. September, 1885. 

 London : Sotherau & Co.] 



We welcome with pleasure the first number of a new 

 monograph proceeding from the joint labours of two members 

 of the B. O. U. With Mr. Sharpe, we believe, the Swallows 

 have long been a favourite group, and have lately been the 

 subject of special study for the tenth volume of the Catalogue 

 of the Birds in the British Museum. Mr. Wyatt is, as will 

 be universally acknowledged, clever with his pencil; and 

 though his pictures may not quite come up to the standard of 

 the best ornithological draughtsmen of the present day, they 

 are certainly nicely designed and sufficiently well coloured 

 for all practical purposes. 



The present number contains figures of Hirundo semirufa, 

 H. leucosoma, H. lucida, H. angolensis, Psalidoprocne obscura, 

 and Hirundo striolata, all ^Ethiopian species, except the last, 

 of which the letterpress is not yet given. We venture to 

 think our friends should not place too much reliance on the 

 localities given in Bochebrune's ' Birds of Senegambia,' 

 which we see quoted in several places, for, as we have already 



