Recent Ornitholoyical Publications. 203 



specimens or entered in his Journals. From these, Herr Grill's 

 paper has been drawn up, and in a manner well deserving of 

 imitation, — Professor Sundevall supplying the diagnoses of the 

 new species of birds, which are, Bradijpterus victorini and B. 

 sylvaticus, both obtained at Knysna. 



Victorin himself unhappily died of consumption soon after his 

 return to his native country, at the age of twenty-four years. 

 Herr Grill very properly remarks, in his introductory note to 

 this communication, that " the Bird-fauna of the Cape colony 

 not having hitherto been separated from that of CafFre-land, and 

 Le Vaillant in his '^Oiseaux d^Afrique' having still more con- 

 fused our knowledge of the subject by mixing up a number of 

 species from Australia, India, Madagascar, America, &c.*, eveiy 

 collection, with accurately given localities, and notes made on 

 the spot, is of the greatest weight." Such a collection was 

 Victorin' s : it is stated to have been made "with extraordinary 

 care and skill,'' — every specimen being not only beautiful and 

 well prepared, but marked with the date, locality, sex, colour 

 of the eyes and feet, dimensions, and other explanatory circum- 

 stances. In addition to this, he kept, as has been before men- 

 tioned, very compendious journals, chiefly written in English, 

 partly under the name of " Zoological Notes," and partly under 

 that of "Day Book." His early death is assuredly well described 

 as a severe loss to science. 



Dr. L. von Schrenck's work on the Birds of Amoorland, of 

 which we have given the title in our last Number (p. Ill), is a 

 most valuable contribution to our knowledge of the geographical 

 distribution of the species belonging to the Palsearctic Avifauna, 

 and requires a few remarks from our pen. We must premise 

 that Dr. v. Schrenck was placed in command of a scientific 

 expedition for the exploration of the newly acquired Russian 

 territory on the Amoor, sent out by the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences of St. Petersburg in 1854. The species treated of in 

 this work are mainly such as came under Dr. v. Schrenck's 

 personal observation during his two years' sojourn in that counti-y, 

 with the addition of those collected by Herr Maack, who made 



* Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl., Band ii. No. .3 (1857) : ' Ibis,' 1^5!), p. 324. 



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