510 Recently jjubliahed Ornithological Works. 



Porphrjrio, has bestowed upon it the name of Porphyrio 

 stanleyi. That this specimen is distinct from the true Gal- 

 linula alba of White and Latham we fully believe ; and if it 

 be not an albino variety of P. melanonotus, Mr. Rowley had no 

 choice but to act as he has done. It is strange that^ though 

 former voyagers not unfrequently speak of these white Gal- 

 linules as existing in Lord Howe's and Norfolk Islands, no 

 specimens have reached us in recent times. AVe know of 

 no other specimens in existence but the one now figured by 

 Mr. Rowley and the specimen in the Vienna Museum, to 

 which we had occasion to refer in a former volume of this 

 Journal (Ibis, 1873, p. 295, pi. x.). Mr. Rowley has done 

 good service in figuring this bird, which, be it what it may, 

 is of higli interest^ both historically and in a more strictly 

 scientific point of view. 



In Part II. No. 2 (No. 1 we do not see), Mr. Rowley 

 writes on British birds, and brings forward many notes, 

 which a long residence in a very favourable district for ob- 

 servation of the straggling and migratory birds to our shores 

 has enabled him to collect together. The subjects treated of 

 are so numerous, and the matter so varied, that we hope to 

 be excused going into any details on this part of Mr. Rowley^s 

 labours, we can only recommend our readers to consult for 

 themselves Mr. Rowley^s pages, wherein will be found not a 

 few of the soluble and insoluble problems appertaining to a 

 study of bird-life discussed. 



Mons. Mulsant^s work on the Trochilidse*, of which we 

 have had to speak on several occasions (see Ibis, 1874, p. 453, 

 and antea, p. 265), continues to make satisfactory progress. 

 We have received two more Livraisons, which make half the 

 second volume. Four plates accompany each part, but do not 

 correspond to the text, being issued in advance of it. One of 

 these represents Lophornis adorabilis, which M. Mulsant ap- 

 pears to contemplate placing in a new genus {Dialia), as the 



* Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-M ouches ou Colibris constituant la 

 famille des Trochilides. Par E. Mulsant et feu Edouard Verreaux. 4to. 

 T. ii. Livr. 1 & 2. Lyons : 1875. 



