Recently published Ornithological Works. 183 



these, with additions aud corrections to bring the List up to 

 date^ in a handsome octavo volume, which is further orna- 

 mented by 30 coloured plates drawn by some o£ the best 

 living bird-artists, Mr. Stuart Baker wisely follows nearly 

 the arrangement and nomenclature used by Salvadori in the 

 twenty-seventh volume of the British Museum Catalogue of 

 Birds. He introduces the Red-breasted Goose into the 

 Indian Avifauna mainly on the faith of specimens seen on the 

 Brahmapootra. It is quite likely to occur there in the cold 

 season, but we are not aware of there being Indian speci- 

 mens of this Goose in any museum. The generic name of 

 Rvfibrenta, we may observe, which is here adopted for this 

 species, is quite unnecessary, as it is a typical Brenta, except 

 in colour. 



We do not find that Mr. Stuart Baker has solved the 

 problem of what the Swan is that breeds regularly on the 

 Lake of Seistan (see ' Ibis,' 1906, pp. 397, 612, 737). 



21. Stuart Baker on the Birds of the Khasia Hills. 



[Birds of the Khasia Hills. By E. C. Stuart Baker, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 

 Journ. Bombay N. H. Soc. 1907, pp. 783, 957.] 



The Khasia Hills in Assam, although separated from the 

 Himalayas by the great valley of the Brahmapootra, are said 

 to have nearly the same phase of animal life. All round the 

 foot of the Khasias, as Mr. Stuart Baker tells us, the dense 

 tropical woods contain much bird-life, but few forms of great 

 interest. Towards Shillong there are immense stretches of 

 grass-land, until, about five miles from that place, where the 

 pine-forests begin, in the extreme east of the Khasias, there 

 is another kind of country — grass-covered hills varied by 

 scattered oak-forests. " Towards Cherraponji and its 

 vicinity there are many huge cliffs that afford breeding- 

 places to several interesting birds, amongst which are the 

 local Swift [Cypselus acuticauda) and the Striped Swallow 

 {Hirundo striolata). Hirundo daurica also breeds in the 

 houses in the native villages." Other interesting birds of the 

 Khasias, Mr. Stuart Baker tells us, are the Long-tailed Wren 



