Recently published Ornithological Works. 101 



every ornithologist, whether he is a special student of the 

 American avifauna or not. It is, in fact, our deliberate opinion 

 that Coues's new ' Key ' is, as one of the veteran ornithologists 

 of the continent has tersely put it, in a private letter, " one of 

 the best and most useful bird-books ever written;'' and we 

 commend it to our readers accordingly. 



10. Cowan on the Birds of Madagascar. 



[Notes on the Natural History of Madagascar. By Rev. W. Deans 

 Cowan. Pr. Roy. PIij^s. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. vii. p. 133.] 



To his very interesting article on the fauna of Madagascar 

 Mr. Cowan adds a nominal list of the mammals and birds, 

 and tables showing their distribution in three " well-marked 

 geographical districts " of the south-central part of the island. 

 The list contains the names of 1 15 birds. From Mr. Cowan's 

 general remarks on the birds, we extract the following pas- 

 sages : — 



" In travelling through the foi'cst of Madagascar, nothing 

 strikes one more than what appears to be the absence of 

 bird-life. Now and again one hears the cry of the Centropus 

 tolou, mostly on the outskirts of the forest. One passes the 

 brilliant Coua ccerulea, making its way quietly through the 

 forest ; but that is the most that is generally seen or heard 

 of the birds in the great forest. True, if we were to pene- 

 trate into the denser forest we might come upon the Atelornis 

 pittoides or A. crossleyi, the Euryceros prevosti, the velvety 

 Philepittajala, or such birds as love the recesses and lonely 

 shades of these silent woods. Suddenly, and often unex- 

 pectedly, the trees overhead become filled with crowds of 

 birds, chattering in many a different note — that is what may 

 be called a 'drive' of birds. Hundreds, sometimes thousands 

 of them have congregated for feeding-purposes, and are now 

 passing through the forest, clearing the insects from trees 

 and shrubs. Conspicuous amongst them for size and noise 

 is i\\QDicrurusforficatas, Tijlas edaardi, and Cumpephaga cana ; 

 of the smaller birds there is the Zosterops madagascariensis, 

 the two Bernierice, the Leptopterus viridis, and the chattci'ing- 

 Newionia, with many others. It is by following such drives 



