370 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



localities which they mostly affect, the author gives a list of 

 the 123 species which have come under his observation in 

 Mexiana, and excellent field-notes on their habits. The 

 species are mostly well-known and of common occurrence, 

 but many new facts are chronicled. After this there follows 

 a comparative table of the birds recorded by Mr. Wallace 

 and the author, embracing altogether 152 species. Five 

 uncoloured plates shew the nesting-sites of Cacicus persicus 

 and Mycteria americana, the eggs of the latter species and 

 Gelochelidon anglica. This Tern arrives in Mexiana in 

 the month of August, and breeds in the swamps in great 

 numbers. 



37. ' Journal of the South African Ornithologists' Union' 



[The Journal of the South Africau Ornithologists' Union. Vol. iii. 

 No. 2 (Dec. 1907).] 



The concluding part of the third volume of our con- 

 temporary contains an article on birds observed in 

 Portuguese East Africa by Major Sparrow, and another by 

 Mr. C. G. Davies on those of Port St. Johns, Lusikisiki, 

 Flagstaff, and Bizana, in Pondoland. The first writer, 

 among other items, describes the eggs from a nest of 

 Helotarsus ecaudatus ; while JNIr. Davies records what appears 

 to be Quelea erythrops for the first time from South Africa, 

 and corrects the description of the soft parts of Hapaloderma 

 narina in Stark and Sclater's work. He also writes on what 

 he thought to be Cinnyris olivaceus, but (on p. 215) we are 

 informed that the bird should probably be considered a 

 new subspecies, for which the name C. olivaceus daviesi is 

 proposed. 



Dr. Gunning describes (on p. 209) a new genus and species 

 of Fringillidse from the Eustenburg district of the Trausvaal 

 as Heliospiza noomece ; Dr. Duerden writes on " The Waltzing 

 Instinct in Ostriches " ; and Mr. Haagner begins a full list 

 of recent works and papers on South African Birds. 



The action of the Migration and Bird-Protection Com- 

 mittee cannot fail to interest our readers, though it is a new 

 institution in South Africa, and they will also appreciate 



