Ornithological Literature of 1870. 457 



palimpsest, and one not erased and written upon again just once, 

 but five or six times over. Having erased, as it were, the cha- 

 racters of the gaudy Indian bird, I seemed to be amongst the 

 sombre Grouse; and then, towards incubation, the characters of 

 the Sandgrouse and Hemipod stood out before me. Rubbing 

 these away in my downward work, the form of the Tinamou 

 looked one in the face ; then the aberrant Ostrich seemed to be 

 described in large archaic characters; a httle while, and these faded 

 into what could be just read off as pertaining to the Sea-Turtle, 

 whilst underlying the whole the Fish, in its simplest Myxinoid 

 form, could be traced in morphological hieroglyphics.^' 



To all who wish to become acquainted with the Bird's skull 

 and its complex terminology, this paper will prove of great 

 value. 



Pelzeln, August von. 



1. Zur Ornithologie Brasiliens. Abth. iii., iv. Wien : 1870. 

 8vo, pp. 189-462. 



These parts complete this useful work. Part iii. having been 

 already noticed in these pages (Ibis, 1870, p. 272), it will suffice 

 for us to mention the species described in it as new. They are 

 Leistes erythrothorax, Enphonia ochrascens, Tachyphonus nat- 

 tereri, Oryzoborus fringilloides, Spermophila superciliaris, S. cabo- 

 clinho, S. melanops, S. melanogaster, Haplospiza ? crassirostris, 

 Sycalis citrina, Picumnus aurifrons, P. borbce, P. leucogaster, 

 P. fuscus, Dromococcyx pavoninus, Perisiera cyanopis, Leptoptila 

 ochroptera, Leptoptila reichenbachi, Penelope ochrogaster, P. grayi, 

 Cr-ax pinima, and C. mikani. The fourth and last part contains 

 a complete list of Brazilian birds derived from the best autho- 

 rities. Prince Neuwied, Spix, Burmeister, and Wallace, Nat- 

 terer's localities having been given in the previous pages of the 

 work. A number of other authorities are also cited, and a 

 summary given showing that the number of birds recorded as 

 inhabitants of the Empire of Brazil reaches 1680 species. It 

 must be remembered, however, that this large number cannot be 

 regarded as belonging to a single subfauna of the South- 

 American continent, but that, besides the forest region of Eastern 

 Brazil, the territory included covers a large portion of the vast 



