242 Recent Literature. [April 



of the introduced Ring-necked Pheasant, in which it is stated that hybrids 

 between this species and the Sooty Grouse are of frequent occurrence. An 

 attempt to domesticate the pheasants, it is said, has met with an encourag- 

 ing degree of success. 



The illustrations of this beautifully printed brochure include a colored 

 plate of the male 'China Pheasant,' and the following half-tone plates: 

 Peterson's Butte, where the pheasants were first liberated; a female ' China 

 Pheasant'; its nest, full of eggs, and the same nest, with the egg shells 

 after hatching; pheasant checks; a view in the Willamette Valley, the 

 home of the pheasants; a male Sooty Grouse; a hybrid — 'China Pheas- 

 ant' + Sooty Grouse; then, on succeeding plates, a Willow Grouse, a 

 Sage Grouse (p:iale), Colmnbia Sharp-tailed Grouse (female), Oregon 

 Ruffed Grouse, Mountain Partridge, and Valley Partridge. All are from 

 mounted birds but from excellent specimens, and with good back-ground 

 effects. — J. A. A. 



Giglioli's 'Avifauna Italica.' — As indicated by the full title,' this volume 

 of more than 800 pages is a catalogue of the birds known to occur in Italy, 

 numbering 496 species, with their local vernacular names, a statement 

 of their manner of occurrence and distribution in Italy, and a critical 

 examination of their local variations. Italian birds appear to possess an 

 unrivalled number of vernacular designations, the enumeration of which, 

 for the commoner species, fonns a large part of the text of the present 

 work.^ There is no technical synonymy, and the species are not described; 

 the extended annotations relate wholly to their distribution and manner 

 of occurrence, with mention of their various subspecies, as recognized 

 by modern authors, and in general their condemnation as puerile innova- 

 tions. In other matters of nomenclature the author is also extremely 

 conservative; tautonymic designations and trinomials are to him an 

 abomination. His nomenclature is strictly binomial, and the fomis rec- 

 ognized by him are all full species. He has, indeed, only unsympathetic 

 words for these modern innovations (see especially pp. xiii-xviii of the 

 Introduction, and elsewhere passim.). — J. A. A. 



1 Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio ! — ! Direzioiie generale dell' 

 Agricoltura | — | Ufticio Ornitologlco | — | Secondo Resoconto | del risultati della 

 inchiesta ornltologica in Italia | — | Avifauna Italica | nuovo elenco sistematico 

 delle specie di uccelli | stazionarie, di passaggio o di accidentale comparsa in Italia; | 

 coi nomi volgari, colla loro distribuzione geografica, | con notizie intorno alia loro 

 biologia, ed iin esame critico delle variazioni | e delli cosidette sottospecie | com- 

 pilato dal dottore | Enrico Hillyer Giglioli | Professore ordinario di Zoologia e Ana- 

 tomia dei Vertebrati | nel R. Instituto di Stiidi Superiori in Firenze, Membro del 

 Comitato ornitologico internazionale | e Direttore dell' Ufticio ornitologico | [Seal] 

 Firenze | Coi Tipi dello Stab. Tipografico S. Guiseppe | 1907 — Svo, pp. XXIV + 

 784. Lire 10. 



2 The Index to the vernacular names occupies 70 pages of small type, of three 

 columns to the page! 



