242 Journal of Travel and A^atural History 



have been informed that some of the MS. notes referred to are not 

 a little curious, even as a psychological study. Mr Swainson was 

 Attorney-General of New Zealand for several years, but it does 

 not appear that he continued his ornithological studies upon the 

 feathered inhabitants of our antipodes. 



The classification adopted by Mr Layard is antiquated, but this 

 is of little import in a work of which the special object is to dis- 

 criminate and determine the various species. A few of his iden- 

 tifications are erroneous, as that of Milvus migrans (seu ater) with 

 the Indian M. govinda, which latter he includes as a synonyme of 

 M. migrans. Again, the South African Casarca cana is surely well 

 enough distinguished from the Asiatic C. rutila, the well-known 

 "ruddy shieldrake" of the books, or "Brahmini goose" of Anglo- 

 Indians. Calamodyta (or rather Acrocephalus) arundinacea, 

 Turdus arundinaceus, V., Sylvia turdoides, Tem., is not the same as 

 the Indian A. brunnescens. Strix affinis will bear the prior name 

 of S. poensis, Fraser. His curlew, as we believe, is Numenius 

 lineatus, Cuvier (N. major, Schlegel), the ordinary Indian curlew, 

 which is quite distinct from the European N. arcuatus. The 

 Plectropterus goose is probably the West African P. Ruppelli, not 

 P. gambensis. Ardeola leucoptera we suspect to be erroneously 

 introduced, the winter dress of A. comata being mistaken for it. 

 But there is little else to criticise in the nomenclature adopted by 

 our author. The name " wild turkey " is bestowed on a consider- 

 able variety of birds in different parts of the world, and we learn 

 from Mr Layard that it is applied in South Africa to a species of 

 ibis, the Geronticus calvus ! The very unexpected fact is com- 

 municated by his correspondent, Mr Atmore, that the Indicator 

 minor " kills and eats small birds as savagely as Lanius collaris. 

 The very first I shot was in the act of eating a sparrow that I saw 

 him kill in fight. I suspect the other species of Indicator of 

 similar propensities." Mr Layard shot a specimen of Indicator 

 major as it was " clinging to the upright branch of a tree like a 

 woodpecker." The true affinity of the honey-guides (Indicator) is 

 distinctly with the woodpeckers and not with the cuckoos, among 

 which latter Mr Layard still classifies them; indeed, the feet are 

 absolutely those of a woodi)ecker, as distinguished from those of 

 any cuculine genus. Of a species of true woodpecker, the 

 Geocolaptes olivaceus, he remarks — " This singular bird i)resenls 

 a remarkable instance of the adaptation of creatures to the localities 

 wherein their lot is cast. Though belonging to the woodpecker 



