Recently published Ornithological Works. 341 



48. Shufeldt on the Osteology of Laiiius. 



[Osteology of Lanius ludovicianus excuhitorides. By Dr. R. W. Slui- 

 feldt. BuU. U.S. Geol. & Geogr. Survey, vol. vi. p. 351.] 



Dr. Shufeldt gives us in this essay a complete description 

 of the bones of Lanius ludovicianus excuhitorides (as our 

 American friends call the south-western form of L. luduvi- 

 cianus), drawn up in his usual exact style, and illustrated hy 

 a plate. 



49. Sharpe's Catalogue of the Timeliida. 



[Catalogue of the Pasaeriformes, or Perching Birds, in the Collection of 

 the British Museum. — Cichlomorphse : Part III. Containiug the first 

 portion of the Family Timeliidse (Babbliug-Thrushes). By R. Bowdler 

 Sharpe. 8vo. London, Published by order of the Trustees, 1881.] 



In the sixth volume of the ' Catalogue of the Birds of the 

 British Museum ' we have Mr. Sharpens account of 407 

 species, referred to five subfamilies (Brachypodinse, Troglo- 

 dytinse, Miminse, Myiadectinse, and Ptilonorhynchinse) . 

 These seem to us to be five very natural groups, except as 

 regards the inclusion of the Dippers in the subfamily Troglo- 

 dytinse^. But we can see no reasons whatever for placing 

 any of these groups in the family " Timeliidffi •/' nor has 

 Mr. Sharpe attempted to give us any of the slightest im- 

 portance. Indeed, judging by the " synopsis of subfamilies," 

 given p. 1, the inclusion of the Miminse, Myiadectinae, and 

 Ptilonorhynchinse in the Timeliidae cannot have been origi- 

 nally contemplated. Mr. Sharpe himself admits that this 

 position of the Myiadectinge is " not very satisfactory," but 

 seems to have placed them here because Mr. Seebohm omitted 

 them from his volume on the Sylviidte ! As for the Bower- 

 birds, we are at a loss to imagine what can justify their asso- 

 ciation Avith the Timeliidae. Surely it would have been better 

 to have left them among the Sturnidse, as they had not been 

 already taken next to the Paradiseidse. 



* In spite of their " domed nests '' the Dippers are, in our opinion, 

 more nearly allied to the Thrushes than to the Wreus, though quite suffi- 

 ciently distinct to constitute a family of themselves — that is, a familv of 

 the same rank as other ordinarily recognized families of Oscines. 



