Recent Ornithological Publications. 357 



1861, p. 324, and Dr. Hartlaub, " Bericht," &c., in Wiegmann's 

 Archiv, 1858, p. 55) to be the last resort of Alca impennis, but 

 hitherto no positive information has been received that the bird 

 ever occurred there. The three islands called DanelFs CEer are 

 the last known spots on the coast of East Greenland until lat. 

 69° 15' is reached, the intervening parts never having been sur- 

 veyed, though land was sighted here and there by Scoresby. 

 We may also take this opportunity of saying we think Herr 

 Preyer has exaggerated the number of former breeding-places of 

 this bird in Iceland. He omits to notice the fact that Professor 

 Steenstrup, with apparently good reason, suggests (Vidensk. 

 Meddelels. 1855, pp. 115-116) that Herr Preyer's "Geirfuglas- 

 ker IV.,^^ mentioned by Olafsen as lying some miles off the 

 Brei^amerkrsandr, is really identical with his " Geirfuglasker 

 III.," stated by Olavius to exist off Brei^alsvik. At all events, 

 the former is ignored in the best maps of Iceland, and is not 

 laid down even in that which accompanies Herr Preyer^s own 

 travels in Iceland. 



Since the above was written, * Heft VI.,' which completes the 

 volume for 1862, has reached us. What seems most worthy of 

 note is the discovery, by the Marquis O. Antinori, of a species 

 of Weaver-bird in the neighbourhood of Alexandria (Egypt), 

 which he describes as Estrelda melanorhyncha. Dr. Cabanis also 

 identifies our Pijnlo albicollis (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 304) with the 

 Tanagra rutila of Lichtenstein — rightly enough, we dare say, as 

 he has access to the typical specimen in the Berlin Museum. 



We have only lately seen a copy of Dr. Burmeister's ' Beise 

 durch die La Plata Staaten '*, though the preface to the second 

 volume (whereby we learn with regret that the learned author 

 has now finally abandoned his native country) is dated two years 

 ago. A list of the species of birds met with by Dr. Burmeistcr 

 in the Argentine Republic has been already published in the 

 ' Journal fiir Ornithologie,' and noticed in this Journal f. We 

 now, however, have this in a much more complete form in the 

 '' Systematische Uebersicht der Thiere des La Platagebietes," 

 which is annexed to the second volume of Dr. Burmeister's 

 * 2 vols. 8vo. Halle, 1861. t See Ibis, 1861, p. 200, 



