Recent Ornithological Publications. 459 



Herr Eug. v. Homeyer's critical remarks upon disputed species 

 of European birds, in reply to Professor Blasius, are also of 

 great interest. We are glad to see the specific validity of 

 Amydrus tristramii so strongly upheld by Dr. Hartlaub. With 

 regard to his suggestion that Reichenbach's term Pyrrhocheira, 

 as established in 1850, should take the place of Amydrus, we 

 cannot allow that much consideration is due to Dr. Reichenbach^s 

 generic names, published as they were without any descriptive 

 characters, or even the name of the type-species. Indeed, in 

 this very case, the late Prince Bonaparte did " not doubt " * 

 that the type of Pyrrhocheira was Mimus carolinensis ; and, for 

 aught we know, he is as likely to be right as Dr. Hartlaub, — 

 the only guide to the question being the not very clearly 

 delineated outline of the head and feet (Avium Syst. Nat. 

 pi. 53). 



A thick number of ' Naumannia ' (Parts IV., V. and VI. in 

 one) concludes the volume for 1858, we suppose, although no 

 title-page and index are given. It contains several very im- 

 portant articles, amongst which we may point out as particularly 

 worthy of notice the following: — (1.) Dr. Blasius' "Briefliche 

 Mittheilungen iiber Helgoland," p. 303. An account is here 

 given of the learned author's visit to this curious little island 

 (which seems to be a favoured spot where all the rarest birds in 

 Europe delight to congregate) and its resident naturalist Herr 

 Gatke. Among the list of rarities given by Dr. Blasius are 

 six birds new to the fauna of Europe : Anthus ludovicianus, L., 

 Orpheus lividvs (Wils.), and Toxostoma rufum (Linn.), from N. 

 America; Pkyllopneuste Z>orea/«s, Blasius (P.e^;er5?/(fl/^^^^,Middend., 

 nee Bp.) ; Lanius phcenicurus, Pallas, and Calamoherpe certhiola 

 (Pallas), from northern Asia. (2.) Dr. Blasius' remarks upon 

 the Gulls of Pallas' Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, p. 316. (3.) Dr. 

 Carl Bolle's biographical notice of Pyrrhula githaginea, as 

 observed by himself in the Canaries, p. 369. (4.) H. Gatke's 

 letter on his captures in Heligoland in 1858, p. 419. Dendroica 

 virens of N. America is here recorded as having been obtained 

 on the 19th October. But Larus rossii is not new to Europe, 



* Compt. Rend, xxxviii. p. 56 ; Notes Orn. p. 39. 



