Recently published Ornithological Works. 705 



maintained by some writers that the Motacilla hortensis 

 of Gmelin, which has been generally supposed to be the 

 Garden-Warbler {Sylvia hortensis) is not that species but 

 the Orphean Warbler {Sylvia orphea). Dr. Hartert ac- 

 cordingly wishes to adopt the name " Sylvia hortensis " for 

 the Orphean Warbler and to call the Garden- Warbler 

 " Sylvia borin," it being, in his opinion, the Motacilla borin 

 of Boddaert (ex Buffon, PI. Enl. 579. iig. 2). It may be 

 remarked, however, that this identification is uncertain, and 

 that if the change were adopted "Sylvia hortensis" would 

 become quite useless as a specific name, as it would not be 

 possible to decide whether it was inteiuled to designate the 

 Garden- Warbler or the Orphean Warbler. To shift the 

 name of one species on to another must always occasion 

 serious inconvenience. It is far better, when necessary, 

 to reject an uncertain name altogether. 



93. ' The Irish Naturalist.' 



[The Irish Naturalist. A Monthly Journal of General Irish Natural 

 History. January-September, 1909.] 



In the January number Mr. R. J. Ussher has some notes 

 on the occurrence of Black Redstarts in Co. Waterford ; in 

 March Mr. B. Jeffers gives us extracts from a Lighthouse 

 diary ; in June Mr. A. Williams notices the White Wagtail 

 from Co. Dublin {cf. p. 183) ; in July Mr. Ussher writes 

 on land-birds^ nests found in holes on islands ; in August 

 Mr. C. B. Moffat discusses the use of domed nests, and 

 Mr. Kohn records a Golden Oriole from Co. Cork; in 

 September Prof. Patten furnishes an account of the 

 Ornithology of The Skerries, Co. Dublin, a district appa- 

 rently frequented by few but the most ordinary sea-birds. 



94. McGregor on Birds from Mindanao, Philippines. 



[A Collection of Birds from Northern Mindanao. By Richard C. 

 McGregor. Philipp. Journ. Sc. iv. p. 67.] 



In the last months of 1907 a collection of birds was 

 made in Northern Mindanao by Mr. Andres Celestino, of 

 the Philippine Bureau of Science. The 42 species to which 

 they are referable are mostly of wide distribution, but six 



