354 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



Insectivora have been deprived of commodious nesting- places ; 

 unavailing regrets from those incessantly exposed to the havocs 

 of wood-insects will follow on the disappearance, for years to 

 come, of their best and most active allies of the forest/' 



Prof, von Tschudi gives an amusing account of the periodical 

 mania for killing birds which every year seizes the Italians, but 

 the passage is too long to extract here. The pamphlet has been 

 carelessly printed ; the scientific names are misspelt most ci'uelly. 

 Even the commoil names are not always correct. Will the 

 British farmer recognize an old acquaintance in the " Rock Crow 

 {Corvus frugilegus) " ? We should rather imagine not. 



2. French Publications. 



We must confess to having no fewer than nine Numbers of 

 the * Revue et Magasin de Zoologie ' that have hitherto received 

 no attention from us. Those for July and August in the past 

 year contain M. Jules Verreaux's translation of Mr. Alfred 

 Newton^s pamphlet on Egg-collecting, which was formerly 

 noticed by us (Ibis, 1860, p. 415); and we trust, with M. 

 Guerin-Meneville, that its publication in French will be found 

 of advantage to the oologists of that nation. Our German 

 brethren have already for some two years had the benefit of the 

 hints it contains, as it was translated by Dr. Baldamus in the 

 'Journal fiir Ornithologie ' for 1860; and separately printed 

 copies of it in that language may be had from the publisher's 

 agents in London, Messrs. Williams and Norgate, for circulation 

 among the correspondents of English oologists. M. J. Vian has 

 a " Notice sur quelques Oiseaux d'Europe," which is illustrated 

 by a plate representing the eggs, chick, and young in its first 

 ])lumage of Limosa cinerea, the specimens having been obtained 

 from the Russian province of Archangel, where it breeds. The 

 first article in the ' Revue ' for this year is by M. 0. DesMurs, and 

 consists of a " Notice sur Toeuf de VAlca impennis," to which are 

 appended two plates, from his own designs, of a couple of these 

 rarities which were formerly in his possession, and now, with 

 the rest of his collection, form part of the magnificent Museum 

 at Philadelphia. We do not quite agree with the author that 

 this egg "a ete jusqu'ici tres-imparfaitement represente," un- 



