Recently published Ornithological Works. 633 



birds of Lower Cochin China, where the first-named author 

 carried on observations for more than five years, while 

 M. Oustalet, whose work on the Ornithology of French 

 Indo-China is well known (see above, p. 488), supplies the 

 scientific part of the memoir. 



The present article enumerates the Parrots and Vultures 

 of Lower Cochin China and contains M. Germain's field-notes 

 on these birds. 



95. Hantzsch on the Birds of Ice/and. 



[Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Vogelwelt Islands. Von Bernhard Hantzsch. 

 Berlin, 1905. Pp. i-vi, 1-341 ; 26 illustrations in the text and a map.] 



This book should certainly be carefully studied by all 

 interested in Palsearctic Birds, for it enters into the subject 

 of the Avifauna of Iceland much more fully than did the 

 Rev. H. H. Slater in 1901, when he published his ' Manual 

 of the Birds of Iceland.' The author informs us that he has 

 every intention of visiting the country again, and does not 

 wish the present account to be considered final, as the mate- 

 rial for such a work is scattered throughout many Museums, 

 and the literature consists to a great extent of papers in 

 periodicals and chapters in books of a general nature. But 

 even as it stands Mr. Hantzsch has accomplished a very 

 useful piece of work and one which will doubtless be for 

 long a standard work on the Birds of Iceland, while his 

 separate lists of the species occurring in Grimsey and the 

 Westmann Islands will be found of the greatest use. 



A general survey of the subjects is followed by accounts 

 of the most important literature, of the author's journeys in 

 Iceland, of the character of the country and its characteristic 

 birds, of the changes in the Avifauna within historic times 

 (especially as regards the Great Auk), of the status of 

 various species and of their importance to the natives ; 

 while a second part contains a detailed account of each bird, 

 and includes several not recorded before from the country. 

 The native names, the range, and the synonymy are prefixed 

 in every case, while the systematic arrangement is that of 

 Schalow in his ' Vogel der Arktis.' 



