206 Recent Ornitholugical Publications. 



entered into upon the variations, and a scries of measurements 

 is given, and we have no complaint to make. 



Pica cyanea, Pallas (p. 318), of Siberia, is very unnecessarily 

 united with the Spanish bird. Pica cooki, Bp. It may be- very 

 true that in the Siberian bird the amount of white at the 

 termination of the two medial rectrices varies a little ; but had 

 Spanish examples been examined, it would have been seen at once 

 that the white spot is here not present at all ! 



Coi'vus monedula ! (p. 324) . Even Professor Schlegel, who 

 cannot be pronounced a species-maker, allows Corvus dauricus 

 to be a distinct species from the European Jackdaw. Dr. v. 

 Schrenck does not even consider it as a permanent local variety. 

 It is very true that intermediate forms are found. In S.E. 

 Europe we have Corvus collaris of Drummond, which may be 

 so termed. But there are several, not to say many, well- 

 known cases of intermediate forms between representative 

 species. 



Cinclus pallasii (p. 331) is united with Cinclus mexicanus — 

 a union, which such examples of these birds as have fallen under 

 our inspection would certainly not justify. 



Oriolus cochinsinensis, var. indica ! (p. 346). The Black- 

 naped Orioles are certainly separable into several well-marked 

 local forms, which ought not to be confounded, whether they are 

 called species or varieties. The true Philippine bird {Oriolus 

 acrorhrjnchus of Vigors) is much larger than O. sinensis, to which 

 race we suppose the Amoor specimens belong, and has no trace 

 of the yellow speculum. If Dr. v. Schrenck had a series of 

 examples from all the diflFerent localities before him, we have 

 little doubt he would be able to distinguish them easily. 



Lusciola [Nemura] cyanura, Pallas (p. 361), is, we are informed, 

 " without doubt " the same bird as that which Hodgson has 

 described as Nemura rufilata from Nepal. That these two 

 species are congeneric we well believe ; but that they are strictly 

 identical could not be safely predicated without an accurate com- 

 parison of specimens. Dr. v. Schrenck has not had the oppor- 

 tunity of doing this, perhaps ; but even an examination of the 

 figure of Nemura rufilata in the ' Contributions to Ornitho- 

 logy^ might have niduced him to modify his assertion. The 



