372 Recently published Ornitholoyical IVorks. 



Meyer. Lief. i. (1879), ii., iii. (1881-82), iv., v. (1883), vi., vii. (1884), 

 viii., ix. (1885), 4to. Dresden : 1879-85.J 



Much too little attention, there can be no doubt, has as 

 yet been paid to the study of the osseous framework of the 

 class of birds, and Dr. Meyer^s ' Illustrations,^ which have 

 now reached their ninth number, and contain already not 

 less than 90 plates, will be much valued by naturalists. It 

 may, however, be remarked that, as a general rule, figures of 

 individual bones are of greater assistance to the working 

 ornithologist than those of the whole skeleton, in which, 

 especially when they are prepared from photographs as in 

 the present case, there is sometimes an indistinctness about 

 some particular point that one is wishing to investigate. 



Dr. ]\Ieyer's plates are not arranged in systematic order, 

 but we trust that at the close of the work a systematic list 

 will be given, which will greatly increase their usefulness. 

 We must also say that the letterpress which accompanies the 

 plates is rather meagre. It consists mainly of the results of 

 measurements, which are of little value in classification. A 

 general disquisition on the osteology of birds with references 

 to the individual figures should certainly form a portion of a 

 work of this character. 



68. ' Mittheilungen ' of the Ornithological Union of Vienna. 



[Mittheiliingen des ornithologisclieii Vereines in Wien, Section fiir 

 Vogelkuude, Jahr. 9, no. 29-30 ; Jahr. 10, no. 1-5, 1885-86.] 



Amongst many articles of interest in the recent numbers 

 of this periodical is Hodek^s account of his collecting- 

 expedition on the' Lower Danube, during which a speci- 

 men was obtained of a Pelican '' new to Europe." Of this 

 curious bird a lengthened description is given (Jahrg. 10, 

 no. 2, pp. 13, 14). It is stated that Herr v. Pelzeln is in- 

 clined to refer the specimen to Pelecanus rufescens. But if we 

 understand Herr v. Hodek's account of the termination of 

 the feathered space at the base of bill correctly, the " anony- 

 mus " must belong to the group allied to P. onocro talus, 

 and perhaps be an abnormal variety of that species. Sclater 

 has long suspected that P. sharpii of Bocage {cf. P. Z. S. 

 1871j p. 632) may be merely a " hepatic " form of P. onocro- 



