356 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



V. Honieyer's " Account of the Birds of the Balearic Islands," Dr. 

 Belle's " Description oiAnthus bertheloti," already printed in this 

 Magazine (Ibis, 1862, p. 343), the conclusion of Herr Preyer's 

 paper on the Great Auk, and Dr. Kriiper's " Ornithological No- 

 tices of Greece," wherein he details at greater length some of the 

 exploits already recorded in these pages by Mr. Simpson (Ibis, 

 1860, pp. 375 and 378). Herr v. Homeyer designates a topical 

 variety of the Common Crossbill, which he says is of common 

 occurrence even in summer in Majorca, as ' Crucirostra curvi- 

 rostra, var. balearica,' a fact interesting to those naturalists who 

 look on local races as incipient species. The Ornis of the Bale- 

 aric Islands has very few, if any, African tendencies. Fringilla 

 coelebs, Chlorospiza chloris, and Parus cceruleus occur there just 

 as in Europe, instead of their Algerian representatives, F. spodio- 

 genia, C. aurantiiventris, and P. ultramarinus. As a sort of set- 

 off to this, we may mention Dr. Altum's record of the occurrence 

 of Picus numidicus near Miinster in the north of Germany — cer- 

 tainly a remarkable turning-up of the " irrepressible African." 

 Herr Preyer's concluding paper is of great importance to those 

 who are interested in the history of the Alca impennis. We can- 

 not refrain from expressing our regret that he has not seen, or, 

 if he has seen, has not referred to, the account of Mr. Wolley's 

 researches contained in one of our former volumes (Ibis, 1861, 

 pp. 374) et seq.) ; for many of the details there set down are in 

 direct contradiction to those given by Herr Preyer, and his com- 

 ments upon them might have been valuable. He has resusci- 

 tated one fact of especial consequence. This is an account, 

 written in the first part of the 17th century, and printed in the 

 first volume of ' Gronland's Historiske Mindesmserker ' (Kjoben- 

 havn, 1838, pp. 123-134), of a visit made some fifty years be- 

 fore to certain islands on the east coast of Greenland, called 

 Gunnbjornsskjserene, and generally identified with the DanelPs 

 (1652) or Graah's (1830) islands of later geographers, lying in 

 latitude 65° 20' N. An Icelander, by name Latra Clemens, or 

 Clement of Latur, sailed thither with two boats, one of which 

 he is stated to have laden with Gare-Fowls {hla^it bdtinn annan 

 me^ geirfugl) at these skerries. The eastern coast of Greenland 

 has often been supposed (see J. W. Clark in ' Vacation Tourists/ 



