Recently publ'isht^d (Jrnlthuloyicul Works. 501 



author has provided a preliminary account in the ' Auatom- 

 ischer Auzeiger^ for 1896. The results of this inquiry are 

 of some interest to taxonomists. The author finds that in 

 the developing skull there is a temporary phase of schizo- 

 gnathism ; and^ more than this, that the vomer is for a time 

 forked in front ; the skull therefore at a certain period is 

 distinctly suggestive of that of a Limicoline bird. Such 

 facts, thinks the author (and there are corroborations) , do not 

 decidedly negative the view of Forbes and some other writers 

 that the Accipitrines should be relegated to the neighbourhood 

 of the Storks. But on the whole these facts do not necessitate 

 such a placing. Dr. Suschkin docs not suggest an alternative. 

 It may, perhaps, be pointed out that in the features men- 

 tioned, as well as in the temporary existence of occipital 

 fontauelles, there is an equal likeness to the Crane tribe. It 

 has already been urged by the late Prof. Parker and by 

 others that Cariama, a Crane in the wider acceptance of the 

 term, is by no means unlike an Accipitrine. That the group 

 of Cranes may form a basal group connected with the 

 Accipitres, as well as perhaps with other forms, is a view 

 urged by Mr. Beddard in his ' Structure and Classifica- 

 tion of Birds.' This is far from being contradicted by 

 Dr. Suschkin's important discoveries in the skull of the 

 Accipitrine chick. 



102. Hyatt's Second Volume of ' British Birds.' 



[British Birds : with some Notes in reference to their Plumage. 

 Coloured Illustrations. Vol. II. liy Claude \V. VVyatt, M.B.O.U. 

 Folio. London, 1899.] 



The second volume of Mr. Wyatt's ' British Birds ' con- 

 tains illustrations of all the Passerine birds which are 

 migrants to the British Islands, the occasional visitors being 

 left out. To these follow figures of the resident and migrant 

 Ptcari<£, Striges, Accipitres , and Columba, according to the 

 arrangement and nomenclature of the B.O.U. List of British 

 Birds. As in the Passeres, the occasional visitors are omitted. 

 The number of species treated of in this volume is 53. We 

 can hardly speak too highly of Mr. Wyatt's figures, which 



