500 Recently published Oniitholoyical Works. 



part of Seebohm's posthumous work on the Thrushes, now 

 being issued and completed under the editorship of Dr. 

 JJowdler Sharpe : — Merula rufitorques, M. serrana, M. leu- 

 cojjs, M. infuscata, M. samoensis, M. mareensis, M. gigas, 

 M. giganiodes, M. cacozda, M. nigrescens, M. nigrorum, and 

 M. nigropileus. Other unfigured species are introduced into 

 the letterpress. We venture to think that the number of 

 Neotropical Blackbirds has become somewhat unduly aug- 

 mented of late years. It is allowed that in some ca^-es the 

 males are nearly or quite indistinguishable, and that specific 

 characters can be detected only in the females. But are 

 the females of the same locality always exactly similar ? 



100. Shelley'' s 'Birds of Africa,' vol. ii. pt. 1. 



[The Birds of Africa. By G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S. Vol. II. 

 Pt.l. London : Porter, 1900. 8vo. Pp. 160. coloured plates. Price 

 'lis. net.] 



Our valued friend and fellow-worker has commenced his 

 laborious task of describnig the 2534 birds of the Ethiopian 

 Region, of which he catalogued the names in the first volume 

 of this work (see Ibis, 1896, p. 419). The present portion 

 of vol. ii. contains the Pittidaj and Philepittidse, and the 

 whole of the Nectariniidse — the last a very numerous group 

 in Africa, comprising upwards of 80 species. These are all 

 diagnosed and described, and every necessary particular is 

 given concerning their distribution, nesting-habits, and other 

 known peculiarities. 



The 'Birds of Africa,^ when complete, promises to be of 

 first-rate importance to ornithological science. 



101. Suschkin on the Skull o/ Tinnunculus. 



[Zur Morphologic des Vogelskelets. I. Schadel von Tbmmicuhis. 

 Von P. P. Suschkin. Xouv. M^m. Soc. Imp. d. Nat. Moscou, xvi. livr. 2 

 (1899).] 



Dr. Suschkin requires 150 pages of quarto — distinctly 

 verging upon folio — to state Avhat he has to say about the 

 development of the skull in Tinnunculus alaudarius. For 

 those who are unable to read this extended memoir the 



