Vol. XX in Recent Literature. IO3 



grallatorial passeriform bird, 1 obtained by Coloman Katona on the shores 

 of Lakejippe in East Africa, and here described as Charadriola singu- 

 laris, gen. et. sp. nov. The terminal third of the tibia is unfeathered, 

 scaled, and reticulated as in the plovers. In other respects this new type 

 is much like the South African genus Macronyx, having the same long hind 

 claw and other features, but a slenderer bill. The bird is illustrated by 

 three text-figures, giving full-length figures of the male and female, the 

 hind limb (natural size), and an enlarged figure of the tibia and proximal 

 portion of the tarsus, to show the plover-like scutellation. In a notice of 

 this paper in a recent number of 'The Ibis '(Oct. 1904, p. 653), however, the 

 bird here described is said to be not anew discovery, but a redescription 

 of Tmetothylacus tenellus Cabanis, and "that it is not an aquatic spe- 

 cies!" Cabanis first described and figured the species as Macronyx 

 tenellus (J. f. O. 1878, pp. 205, 220, pi. iii, fig. 2), and later {ibid., 1S79, p. 

 438) made it the type of a new genus Tmetothylacus, on the basis mainly 

 of the nakedness of the lower half of the tibia and its scaly covering. 

 Sharpe, in 18S5 (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., X, p. 618), referred the species to 

 Aut/ius and cites the already considerable literature relating to it. — J. A. A. 



Shalow on Arctic Birds. 2 — The area embraced in the present elaborate 

 memoir is limited to the seas and islands north of the Arctic Circle. 

 Some fifteen pages of introductory matter (pp. 81-96) treat of the fau- 

 nal relations of the region, and the views of leading writers thereon, 

 and define the limits of the region under consideration. The bibliog- 

 raphy of the subject takes the next fifteen pages (pp. 96-110), the titles 

 being arranged chronologically, beginning with Martens, 1675, and 

 including a portion of the literature of 1904. A systematic enumeration 

 of the species, subspecies and higher groups follows. The 270 species 

 and subspecies are next treated (pp. 1 14-271) in due sequence under the 

 subheading ' Die Geographisch Verbreitung der das nordliche Polarmeer 

 bewohnenden Vogel,' under which is given for each the synonymy, bib- 

 liographic references, and a detailed account of its manner of occurrence 

 in the region. 



Following this, the main bod}' of the work, is an analysis of the distri- 

 bution of the species and subspecies in the different islands, with refer- 

 ence to their faunal relations, — whether circumpolar, pahearctic, or 

 nearctic, and whether known to breed or not at the various islands in 

 question. 



1 An Extraordinary Discovery in Ornithology. By Dr. Julius v. Madarasz. 

 Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, II, 1904, pp. 396-398. 



2 Die Vogel der Arktis. Von Herman Schalow in Berlin. Fauna Arctica, 

 eine Zusammenstellung der arktische Tierformen, mit besonderer Berucksich- 

 tigung des Spitzbergen-Gebietes auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Deutchen 

 Expedition in das Nordliche Eismeer im Jahr 1898. Band IV, Lieferung I, 

 Verlag von Gustav Fischer in Jena. 1904. — 410, pp. 81-288. 



