194 New and forthcoming Ornithological Works, ^c. 



to the Ornithology of South iVfrica/ to take the place of Mr. 

 Layard^s useful little work on the birds of South Africa, which 

 has been freely criticised in these pages. The last-mentioned 

 book, we are happy to learn, has proved an undoubted success ; 

 and we feel confident that this promised new publication, which 

 will combine all that has since come to light on the birds of 

 South Africa, will meet with similar favour. Its scope will be 

 enlarged, so as to include all the birds found within the limits of 

 the South-African avifauna, and will thus comprise those of Natal 

 and Damaraland, as far north as the Zambesi on the east and 

 Benguela on the west. 



Books such as this on local faunas are of the utmost service, 

 and do more than any other class of work to develope a latent 

 taste for ornithology in many a one who would otherwise never 

 progress beyond the acquirement of vernacular names. 



The labours of the late Mr. C. J. Andersson in Damaraland 

 are, we are glad to hear, not to be lost to science ; for Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, who, as the readers of * The Ibis ' well know, has long 

 interested himself in the study of the birds of the adjoining re- 

 gions, has undertaken the task of editing the voluminous MSS. 

 which that well-known collector left behind him. Part of the 

 book is already in the press ; so that we may confidently expect 

 the finished work shortly. 



Mr. Buller, well known for his researches amongst the birds 

 of New Zealand, is now on a visit to England, with the express 

 object of bringing out the complete work contemplated some 

 years ago (Ibis, 1868, p. 504) on the ornithology of that 

 country, where zeal for our science seems in the ascendant. 

 The book is to be in quarto, of the same size as Messrs. Sharpe 

 and Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' and is to be illustrated in the 

 same style by thirty-five coloured Plates, to include about seventy 

 figures of New-Zealand birds. The prospectus, which has just 

 been issued, tells intending subscribers to apply to the author, 

 7 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster. 



Mr. Elliot promises shortly, so soon as his grand ' Monograph 

 of the Phasianidse ' is completed, to commence the issue of a 

 similar work on no less a subject than the " Birds of Paradise.'* 



