86 Recent Oniitlioloyiciil Publicatiuns. 



coast of Devonshire of a species of Gull new to Great Britain— 

 Larus ichthya'etus of Pallas. This " giant of the Black -headed 

 Gulls was shot by a boatman, in the river off Exmouth, about 

 the end of May or beginning of June last/' The specimen is 

 now in the possession of F. W, L. Ross, Esq., who contributes 

 the notice to the ' Annals.' This bird is common in the Cas- 

 pian, according to Pallas. Did it come here in company with 

 the flock of Pallas's Sand-grouse, which arrived from nearly the 

 same country about the same time ? 



Sir James Emerson Tennent's excellent volumes on Ceylon* 

 give a well-written and interesting sketch of the Ornithology, as 

 of the other branches of Natural History of that island. The 

 author does not appear to have been acquainted with Dr. Hart- 

 laab's paper in Cabanis' 'Journal flir Ornithologie' (1854, 

 p. 151), where a good resume of our knowledge of Ceylonese 

 ornithology has already been given ; but he draws his results 

 directly from the labours of Dr. Templeton, Mr. E. L. Layard, 

 and Dr. Kelaart, on whose researches Dr. Hartlaub also founded 

 his notice, and to whose exertions we owe the present compara- 

 tively perfect knowledge which we possess of the Avifauna of 

 Ceylon. 



" Of the birds of the island," says Sir James Emerson Tennent, 

 " upwards of 320 species have been indicated, for which we are 

 indebted to the persevering labours of Dr. Templeton, Dr. Ke- 

 laart, and Mr. Layard; but many yet remain to be identified. 

 In fact, to the eye of the stranger their prodigious numbers, and 

 especially the myriads of water-fowl which, notwithstanding the 

 presence of the Crocodiles, people the lakes and marshes in the 

 eastern provinces, form one of the marvels of Ceylon. 



" In the glory of their plumage the birds of the interior are 

 surpassed by those of South America; and the melody of their 

 song will bear no comparison with that of the warblers of Eu- 

 rope : but the want of brilliancy is compensated by their singu- 

 lar grace of form, and the absence of prolonged and modulated 



* Ceylou : an account of the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topogra- 

 phical, with Notices of its Natural History, Antiquities, and Productions. 

 By Sir James p:mcrson Tennent, K.C.S., LL.D. London, ISSI), 2 vols. 8vo. 



