402 Recent Ornitholoyical Publications. 



have been published in the ' Revue et Magasin de Zoologie/ 

 But we wish to urge the prosecution of a further investigation of 

 the zoology of the Azores^ and of an accurate comparison of spe- 

 cimens of the resident species with their European correspondents, 

 as it is far from improbable that other instances may be found of 

 specific or quasi-specific differences between them and the pre- 

 sent iuhabitants of the adjoining continent. 



3. German Publications, 



We owe apologies to our readers as well as to the author for 

 not having already redeemed our promise of giving some notice 

 of Dr. Hartlaub's elaborate account of the Ornithology of Ma- 

 dagascar and the adjacent islands*, as it has been now issued in 

 its complete and amended form. 



" Naturalists/^ says Dr. Hartlaub, in his introduction to this 

 work, " as well botanists as zoologists, have been long accustomed 

 to consider Madagascar as a land of wonders and promise. The 

 genera Ouvirandra, Ravenalia, and Angracum of the former are 

 rivalled by the anomalous forms Chiromys, Eupleres, Euryceros, 

 Mesites, and Atelornis of the latter. Indeed the peculiarity of 

 the animals that people this island, considered in relation to its 

 geographical extent, is so great that we cannot be surprised when 

 Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire looks upon it, in respect of the idio- 

 syncrasy of its fauna, as a fifth continent, and Hombron declares it 

 to be one of the centres of creation of the African plateau. We 

 are now aware that, out of about 50 species of mammals known 

 to us from Madagascar, one or two only are met with also in 

 Africa, and that of the 203 birds, of which the following work 

 will make mention, not less than 97 are to be treated of as ex- 

 clusively confined to the island.'^ 



Flacourt, in his ' Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar,' 

 published at Paris in 1661, is the first author who treats of the 

 birds of Madagascar, and gives us a list of 60 species said to be 

 found there, the greater number of which, however, being un- 

 accompanied by descriptions, are now irrecognizable. On the 



* Oinithologisclier Beitrag zur Fauna Madagascar's, mit Beiiicksich- 

 tignng iler Inseln Mayotta, Nossi-be und S. Marie, so wie der Mascarenen 

 und Seychellen, von l>r. G. Hartlaub. 1 vol. Pvo. Bremen, ISfil, 8S j)p. 



