840 Recently jmhlished Ornithological Works. 



subject we have already noticed (Ibis, 1889, p. 124), has 

 here published his latest investigations with regard to the 

 claws on the wings of Birds. As before, he makes three 

 groups of species, possessing respectively a claw on the 

 poUex, on the index, or on both ; the first contains 61 forms, 

 the second only 0, and the third 80 — including cases noticed 

 by his fellow-ornithologists. Instances of wing-claws are 

 most common in the large group LimicoUe, somewhat less so 

 in the Accipitres, Gavice, and Anseres, in the order given, 

 while they gradually decrease in number until none are 

 found in the Passeres ^. 



The author considers it now certain that Gyps fidvus and 

 Syrnium urahnse have claws on both digits, Botaurus stelluris 

 on the index. He discusses further the probability of their 

 existence in other groups, their extreme forms, cases where 

 that on the index is the larger, the coexistence of spurs and 

 claws, and the " involution ^^ of the latter as the bird passes 

 from the young to the adult stage. 



79. Rothschild on the Avifauna of Laysan. 



[The Avifauna of Laysau and the neiglibouving Ishmds ; with a 

 complete History to date of the Birds of the Hawaiian Possessions. 

 By the Hon. Walter Kothschild. London: B. H. Porter. Part IH. 

 December lUOO. Price £6 6s.] 



With this bulky part Mr. Rothschild brings to a conclusion 

 his excellent work on * The Avifauna of Laysan,' which, 

 however, embraces an account not only of the birds of that 

 little-known and remote island, but also a full history up to 

 the present time of the Ornis of the whole Hawaiian group 

 and its dependencies. 



The second part of this work was published in 1893 (sec 

 Ibis, 1894, p. 315), so we have had some time to wait for 

 the final number, but are amply repaid by the great interest 

 of the letterpress and the number and excellence of the 

 plates by Keulemans & Frohawk, which represent the 

 following species : — 



* In the Passeres they may, liowever, occur abnormally, as in the 

 well-known case of Meriila dadyloptera Bp. {^Cf. Ibis, 1801, p. 279.) 



