746 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



be tbere during the breeding-season, and thus found the eggs 

 and nests of many of the local forms which Mr. Thomas 

 Carter was unable to obtain. 



The Report of the Check-list Committee engaged in 

 drawing up a new Check-list of Australian birds was also 

 considered, and we are glad to observe that the List will 

 probably be quite complete in time for the next annual 

 gathering. 



Among the very many communications printed in the 

 present volume, we should like to specially mentitm one by 

 Mr. R. Stuart-Sutherland, in which he reviews the Penguins, 

 with special reference to the Australian species, and another 

 by Mr. W. B. Alexander, who reviews tlie Australian species 

 of Tubinares — both useful pieces of work. Mr. A. J. 

 Campbell has prepared some notes on a collection of birds 

 from the islands in the Torres Straits, formed by Mr. W. 

 R. McLennan for the H. L. White Collection, which is now 

 at Melbourne in the National Museum. The plumage 

 clianges of the Nankeen Night-Heron [Nycticorax cale- 

 donicus) have been carefully recorded by Mr. C. F. Cole 

 and are illustrated by a good coloured plate ; and Mr. R. 

 Hays has written an account of the food-pellets of King- 

 fishers, one of the most interesting consisting of the round 

 calcareous concretions ("crabs' eyes "j found in the stomach 

 walls of freshwater Crayfishes, which appear to form a con- 

 siderable part of the diet of the l^aughing Kingfisher 

 (Dacelo gif/as). 



A new feature of the ' Emu ' are the Reports from the 

 State Secretaries, giving accounts of what is going on in 

 each individual State of the great Island Continent, and 

 which undoubtedly must assist in bringing the scattered 

 ornithologists in closer touch with one another. 



We notice only two new forms described — Ptilotis geruld- 

 tonensis Ashby, from Geraldton in Western Australia, and 

 Menura superba edwardi Chisholm, from Stanthorpe in 

 southern Queensland near the New South Wales border. 

 This new Lyre-bird differs markedly from the other forms 

 in its habits, as it lives iu comparatively open country and 

 the nests are placed iu the clefts of giant granite boulders. 



