160 Recently published OmUliological Works. [Ibis, 



book on the Eritisli Warblers and of tlie theory wliicli lie 

 first promulgated in that work of bird-territories and of the 

 great importance of exclusive possession of a tract of land in 

 bird-life. In this new work he has developed his views, and 

 he endeavours to prove that the struggles and battles of male 

 birds in spring are due, not so much to contention for the 

 possession of mates as for the possession of tracts of land or 

 estates to provide hunting-grounds from which to secure 

 food for the young brood. 



This new volume is of great interest, and if the author's 

 conclusions are correct has a most important bearing on 

 many biological problems. We hope to present to our 

 readers a more extended and critical notice of it in the next 

 number of ' The Ibis.' 



Laubmann on the Kingfishe7\ 



[Beitriige ziu- Keinitnis des Formenlireises Alcedo atthis. Von Dr. A. 

 Laubmann. Arch. Naturges. Berlin, vol. 84, pt. A, 19:^0, pp. 43-82.] 



Dr. Laubniann's paper deals with the subspecies of the 

 bird which we have hitherto called Alcedo ispida ; but owing 

 to the fact that Linnaeus described the Egyptian Kingfisher 

 six pages before the familiar A. ispida under the title of 

 Graculn attliis, the latter name must become the specific 

 name of our familiar British bird. As, however, the British 

 bird is subspecifically distinct from the Egyptian, we can 

 retain the name Alcedo atthis ispida for our own form. 



Dr. Laubmann has added another terror to systematic 

 ornithology by making use of four names instead of three, 

 and that something which comes between the species and 

 the subspecies he calls a " formengruppe." According to 

 this system our bird becomes Alcedo atthis atthis ispida, 

 the Egyptian A. attliis atthis atthis, and together with 

 several other subspecies makes up the " formengruppe " 

 Alcedo atthis attliis, while another "formengruppe^'' is made 

 up of three Moluccan subspecies and is termed Alcedo atthis 

 hispidoides. 



The subspecific races as revised by Hartert numbered four; 



