° 1914 J Recent Literature. 119 



ornitho'ogist inasmuch as the author's interests " lay away in the moun- 

 tains and the plains " and he " only spent short intervals in the cities, 

 leaving again as soon as he could possibly do so.' His object he states 

 " is a very simple one; it is to picture the scenery and natural features of 

 the island, and to lead the reader to go to Crete." The pages are naturally 

 full of allusions to birds, and flowers and the general aspects of nature. 

 The beautiful song of the Blue Rock Thrush is described, the habits of the 

 Kestrels and the trapping of Partridges in the caves of the mountains. 



Among the appendices are chapters on the plants, mammals, and birds 

 of the island. The last includes only such as were observed or obtained 

 between March and the end of June but contains mention of species re- 

 corded by other observers and not seen by the author, while the annotations 

 are often full. 



The naturalist has much the same experience with the Cretans as with 

 rural natives of other countries. " On the whole," says our author, " they 

 regard one, perhaps, as rather soft-headed — as harmless, but just a little 

 touched in the head : else why should a man be eternally digging and pick- 

 ing and smelling plants, or taking endless troub'e to follow some tiny bird 

 over the heated rocks and peer at it through glasses; and then, if he shoots 

 it, not even to eat it, but only take with patient trouble its feathers and its 

 skin! It is ridiculous." We are glad to learn, though, that " the Cretans, 

 unlike the people of France or Italy, do not slaughter the small birds." 



The half-tone illustrations and the map are excellent and the book is as 

 attractive in appearance as it is interesting to read. — W. S. 



Hartert's ' Die Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna.' ^ — In the present 

 installment of this important work the consideration of the Strigidoe is 

 completed and the Falconidoe treated in full, with a few pages on the 

 Aquilidce { = Buteonidce). We note the following new forms, Bubo bubo 

 swinhoei, Kinkiang, China; Athene noctua lilith, Der-ez-Zor, and Falco 

 tinnunculus dacotiae. Eastern Canaries (Lanzarote). 



Tyto Biliberg is used for the Barn Owls and Strix for the Barred Owls 

 and the nomenclature follows the International Code in all respects. 

 Two cases are left undecided, i. e., Aegolius vs. Cryptoglaux and Athene vs. 

 Carine which depend upon the ' one letter rule,' the question being whether 

 Aegolia and Athena of earlier date render invalid the two above names. 

 The trinomial system as in previous parts of the work is carried to the 

 extreme, in the reduction of many widely separated forms to subspecies. 

 The Merlin for instance becomes a subspecies of our Pigeon Hawk or to be 

 more exact they are both grouped as subspecies under the 'binomial term 

 Falco columbarius. So also our Barn Owl becomes Tyto alba pratincola, 

 all the Barn Owls of the world being considered as subspecies of T. alba. 



I Die Vogel der palSarktischen Fauna. Systematische Ubersicht der in Europa, 

 Nord-Asien und der Mittelmeerregion vorkommenden Vogel. Von Dr. Ernst 

 Hartert. Heft VIII (Bd II., 2). BerUn, August 1913. 



