616 Recently published Ornithological IVorks. 



Tlic gist of Mr. Finn's observations set forth in the first 

 of these papers is that Grebes stand erect and walk more or 

 less freely, though with a blundering gait when hurried. In 

 the second paper the author maintains, in agreement with 

 Jerdon and Capt. Shelley, that the male Purple Honey- 

 sucker moults into a plumage resembling that of the female. 

 The third paper contains the result of experiments with 

 insects addicted to mimicry and birds which are more or 

 less insectivorous. Some of the remarks strike us as being 

 extremely trite, especially the warning, "Remember that 

 the best and often the only ivay to determine an animal's tastes 

 is to offer it a choice." In No. 88 it is stated that the Indian 

 Goosander walks " in the ordinary manner of Ducks.^' In 

 No. 89 Mr. Finn states that, so far as his observations go, 

 the Parrots, Hornbilk, Kingfishers, and Rollers carry their 

 feet stretched out backwards when in flight, while a drawn-up 

 or forward position characterizes some, at least, of the 

 Hoopoes, Woodpeckers, and Barbets. In No. 90 it is 

 remarked tiiat the Babblers resemble the Shrikes in their 

 habit of feeding from the foot, which is not the case with 

 the Warblers or the Thrushes ; at the same time too much 

 stress must not be laid upon this, as some Parrots use the 

 foot like a hand, whereas others do not. From the last 

 contribution we learn that Baer's Duck, the Eastern repre- 

 sentative of our White- eyed Duck, has again visited India in 

 some numbers. 



92. Finsch on the Crex sandwichensis of Schlegel, 



[On the so-called " Sandwich Rail " in the Leyden Museum. By 

 O. Finsch. Notes Leyden Miis. xx. p. 77.] 



Schlegel's Crex sandwichensis, only known from the 

 specimen in the Leyden Musetim, is, according to Dr. Finsch, 

 " most certainly not the same as Rallus sandwichensis or 

 R. obscurus of Gmelin,'' as supposed by Hartlaub and Sharpe. 

 It is therefore renamed Pennula wilsoni, after Mr. Scott B. 

 Wil!?on. The exact locality inhabited is unknown. 



