Recently published Ornithological Works. 757 



volume of this most useful work, which also, according to 

 the present arrangement, forms part of the ' International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature/ was issued in December 

 1909. As in the preceding years, the section (i Aves," in 

 which we are specially interested, was compiled by the late 

 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe (with, we believe, the able assistance of 

 Mr. Charles Chubb), and was one of the last pieces of good 

 work that our much lamented friend performed*. 



The Record of " Aves " commences, as usual, with a List of 

 the Titles of all works and memoirs relating to Ornithology 

 issued in 1908, arranged in alphabetical order under the 

 authors' names. The Titles are 1949 in number. The 

 corresponding number of Titles in 1907 was 1 716. 



Next to the " List of Titles " comes the " Subject Index," 

 divided up, as we think, into too many heads, and concluding 

 with the Geographical Index. In the " Subject Index " the 

 titles are not fully repeated, but conveniently referred to by 

 the name of the author and the number of his book or 

 memoir in the " List of Titles." 



The third section of the Record of "Aves" is very 

 important for workers in Systematic Ornithology, as it 

 tells us what has been done during the past year in each of 

 the Orders of Birds arranged according to Dr. Sharpe's 

 own system, and in each Family of the Passeres. For 

 example, if working at Paradise-birds, one has only to 

 turn to " Paradiseidse " in the Systematic Index to find 

 references to the various publications of 1908 in which 

 information has been given on this group and the names of 

 the newly described species. This, we need hardly point out, 

 is a very great convenience to working writers in Ornithology. 



Mr. W. L. Sclater, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., has been appointed 

 to succeed the late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe in preparing the 

 section "Aves" for the Zoological Record, and is now at 

 work on the ornithological literature of 1909. 



* Altogether Dr. Sharpe prepared the Reports on " Aves " in twenty- 

 five of the forty-five volumes of the ' Zoological Record.' 



