Recently published Ornithological Works. 611 



110. Shelley' s 'Birds of Africa.' 



[The Birds of Africa, comprising all the Species which occur in the 

 Ethiopiau Region. By G. E. Shelley, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., &c. Vol. IV. 

 pt. 2. London : Porter, 1905.] 



This hall-volume is devoted entirely to typical Weaver- 

 birds, Ploceinae, the third and last Subfamily of the 

 numerous and important African Family Ploceidse. Capt. 

 Shelley recognises 124 species of these birds and divides 

 them into 25 genera. 



The account of these species seems to comprise all that is 

 known of them, and the "keys" to the species given under 

 every generic head afford great facilities for their recognition. 

 The text is illustrated by seven well-drawn and beautifully 

 coloured plates, which represent the following species : — 

 Amblyospiza capitalba, Histurgops rvficauda, Phceipusser 

 pectoralis, Anaplectes blundelli, A. erythrogenys, Cinnam- 

 opteryx tricolor, Sycobrotus stictifrons, Sitagra aliena, 

 Hyphanturnis nigriceps, H. spekii } Xanthophilus temporalis, 

 H. nyascB, X. holoxanthus, and X. princeps. 



,' 111. Thayer and Bangs on the Birds of Gorgona Island. 



[The Vertehrata of Gorgona Island, Colombia. Aves, by John E. 

 Thayer and Outram Bangs. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. xlvi. No. 5 

 (1905).] 



Gorgona is a small island in the Bay of Panama about 

 twenty miles off Punta los Reyes, the nearest point of the 

 Colombian coast. It is completely covered by a dense 

 tropical forest, without trails or open places. The only 

 naturalists that are known to have visited the island are 

 Capt. Kellett and Lieut. Wood, who stopped there many 

 years ago on their way to the Galapagos, and procured 

 a specimen of a Tanager (Tachyphonus delattrii) which is 

 now in the British Museum (see Sclater Cat. B. B. M. xi. 

 p. 215). 



In February 1901 Mr. John E. Thayer " equipped and 

 put into the field" the w r ell-known zoological collector 

 Mr. Wilmot Brown, who, among other places in this district, 

 visited Gorgona Island and remained two weeks there, but 



