So Peecent Literature. as 
‘ Hand-list,’ prepared by Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the author of the greater 
part of the British Museum ‘Catalogue of Birds,’ has a distinct advantage 
over its predecessor, in the fact that in lieu of references to the original 
places of description of the genera and species, it is sufficient to refer 
only to the ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’ on which it is avowedly based, except in 
the case of those described since the publication of the earlier volumes of 
the ‘ Catalogue’; in such cases reference is given to the original place 
of description. The ‘Hand-list’ is thus brought down to date, and as 
regards the groups embraced in the earlier volumes of the ‘ Catalogue,’ 
published many years ago, forms a most valuable index to subsequent 
contributions to descriptive ornithology. It includes also, as an impor- 
tant feature, the extinct birds. On this point, says the author: ‘‘I have 
ventured to incorporate in what appears to me to be their natural posi- 
tion the extinct forms of birds; but it is difficult to discover all the 
descriptions of fossil birds, scattered as they are through so many 
publications..... The work in this direction has been principally 
founded on the ‘ Catalogue of Fossil Birds,’ written by Mr. R. Lydekker, 
F. R. S., and published by the Trtstees in 1891.” 
‘““The system of classification followed in the present work,” says 
Dr. Sharpe, ‘‘is that proposed by myself in 1891, in my address to the 
Second Ornithological Congress at Buda-Pest. I have seen no reason to 
modify the conclusions there recorded in any material degree.” 
The nomenclature adopted is not in all cases that of the ‘ Catalogue,’ 
although the departure is mainly in the line of giving a place in the 
‘Hand-list’ to many forms ignored in the ‘Catalogue,’ even when not 
fully endorsed by the author of the ‘Hand-list, as under the genera 
Lagopus and Bonasa among the Grouse, and also elsewhere. The fossil 
forms are distinguished by the use of antique type. We note as new 
genera the following: Mezotreron, p. 56, for M. dohertyt Rothsch. ; Pseu- 
daria, p. 131, for Uria columba, U. carbo, and U. snowt; and Nannop- 
terum, p. 235, for Phalacrocorax harrisi Rothsch. Pallasicarbo and 
Psiloscops are given as ‘‘ Coues, MSS., 1898,” but both were published 
some months prior to the appearance of the present volume (see Osprey, 
III, May, 1899, p. 144). 
It may be noted that there are no subgenera nor subspecies in the 
present work, all generic names having the status of full genera and all 
the ‘forms’ recognized under the generic names standing as full 
Species: 
Dr. Sharpe has evidently taken great pains to secure accuracy, having 
sent the proof-sheets of his ‘ Hand-list’ to some twenty of the leading 
ornithologists in various parts of the world for their revision. He says: 
“T cannot too warmly express my thanks to the undermentioned ornithol- 
ogists, who have revised the proof-sheets of this work, and given to it 
the importance of an international publication. Many of them have 
freely given me their original notes, have saved me from many slips, and 
have greatly enhanced the value of the work.” 
