Recent Ornithological Publications. 199 



their assertions, now repeated by him, have been shown by later 

 investigations to have been founded in mistake, and several 

 errors are thus perpetuated. 



2. German and Dutch Publications. 



Dr. R. A. Phihppi's * Journey through the Desert of Atacama,' 

 of which we gave the title in our last Number (p. 109), contains 

 a special chapter on the zoology of this singular and nearly 

 rainless region of the Chilian republic, besides veiy many obser- 

 vations on every branch of natural history scattered throughout 

 the narrative of the expedition. The account given of the birds 

 (p. 161) is short and not very satisfactory, owing to the specimens 

 collected having been partly mislaid and lost. The species men- 

 tioned as occurring within the limits of the desert are 33 in num- 

 ber, the greater part of them belonging to well-known Chilian 

 species. Polyborus montanus [i. e. Milvago megalopterus, vide antea, 

 p. 19) is the commonest bird of prey in the desert, and in this 

 part of Chili descends to the coast. Trochilus leucopleurus {i.e. 

 Oreotrochilus leucopleurus), a bird belonging to a group of Tro- 

 chilida generally supposed to be confined to the higher Cordilleras, 

 also descends here nearly to the coast, having been met with near 

 Hueso Parado, at an elevation of not more than 1000 feet above 

 the sea-level. IJpucerthia atacamensis (p. 162, Zool. pi. 3) seems 

 to be identical with Cinclodes bifasciatus, Sclater, described in 

 the Zoological Society^s ' Proceedings' for 1858 (p. 448), from 

 examples collected by Bridges in Bolivia. Totanus chilensis 

 requires further examination and comparison. The new three- 

 toed Flamingo, already described by Dr. Philippi in 1854*, is, 

 perhaps, the most interesting bird of the Atacamian desert. We 

 find the following notice of its habits (p. 57), as observed near 

 Tilopozo : — 



" Two hundred yards from our well were six Flamingoes, of a 

 new species without the hind-toe {Phoenicopterus andinus, mihi), 

 which is only found in the high Cordilleras, but, as it appears, 

 is not uncommon from Peru to Copiapo. It is wonderful that 

 no naturalist seems to have seen it before. Garcilaso de la Vega 



* Annales de la Universidad de Chile, 1854, p. 164 : Gilliss's U. S. Nav. 

 Astr. Exp. ii. p. 198 : Archiv f. Nat. xxi. p. 10. 



