Recently published Ornithological Works. 531 



only lately become aware that another European Sovereign 

 was a great lover of Birds and was engaged upon an illus- 

 trated work on the Avifauna of the country over which he 

 ruled. This was the unfortunate King Carlos of Portugal, 

 who has recently met his death by the hand of an assassin. 



King Carlos, we have been informed, was an ardent student 

 of Bird-life and had long contemplated a book on the birds 

 of Portugal, but the cares of an unruly State interfered with 

 its progress. In 1903, however, he succeeded in bringing 

 out the first fascicule of his work, and in 1907 a second. 

 Of these there is a copy in the Library of the Royal Geogra- 

 phical Society, as lately mentioned by Sir Clement Markham 

 in the *' Geographical Journal ' *. 



The ' Catalogo Illustrado das Aves de Portugal ' consists 

 of a series of well-drawn coloured plates, with accompanying 

 letterpress in Portuguese and French. The letterpress is 

 short, containing merely the name of each bird, a few 

 synonyms, its vernacular names in Portuguese, French, 

 Spanish, English, and Italian, a short explanation as to the 

 mode of its occurrence in Portugal, and an account of the 

 specimens examined. The figures of the birds are well 

 drawn, but the colouring is in some cases rather too lively. 

 The paper and print leave nothing to be desired. The size 

 is a large quarto. Tlie King has wisely followed Dresser's 

 * Birds of Europe ' in nomenclature and arrangement. The 

 first fascicule contains plates 1-20, and the second plates 

 20-40. 



We trust that steps will be taken to ensure the completion 

 of this important work, there being no book on the birds of 

 Portugal in existence. 



68. Mailer on the Air-sacs of the Pigeon. 

 [Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. iv. part ", 1907.1 

 Mr. Bruno Milller, under this title, has published a long 

 and important memoir on a subject which bristles with 



* See " Oceanof^raphic Researches of His late Majesty Kinfr Carlos of 

 Portugal." By Sir Clements H. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S. Geogr. Journ. 

 xxxi. No. 5 (May 1908). 



