4:10 Recent Literature. LJuly 



Mathews' 'The Birds of Australia.' '— Mr. Mathew's great work 

 contmues to appear notwithstanding the fact that the author is making a 

 tour of AustraHa, the results of which we trust will be of benefit to the book, 

 the author and Australian ornithology. The present part completes the 

 Ibises, SpoonbUls and Storks and makes good progress with the Herons. 

 We note no new names that have not already been characterized in the 

 author's previous papers and onlj- one point in nomenclature with which 

 we cannot agree. The generic name Herodias Boie 1822 is used for the 

 large "VMiite Egrets as in the A. O. U. Check-List. We have always held 

 that this name was a s>Tion\Tn of Egretta Forster, 1817, in-as-much-as Gray 

 in 1841 designated as its tj-pe Ardea garzetta L. His subsequent designa- 

 tion of A. egretta in 1855 we hold was invalidated bj' this pre\-ious action. 

 The case was submitted to the International Commission on Zoological 

 Nomenclature six years ago and an opinion has just been rendered (Op. 

 62, March, 1914) sustaining our contention. It will thus be necessary to 

 employ Leucophoyx for Ardea egretta L. and its aUies. — W. S. 



'Die Schwalbe,' the Austrian Bird Migration Report.- — This 

 important pubUcation appears at irregular intervals under the auspices 

 of the Ornithological Section of the Royal Zoological and Botanical Society 

 of Vienna. The present nimaber comprises ' The Question of the Harioful- 

 ness of the Dipper {Cinclus cinclus) by Dr. L. v. Lorenz; ' Observations 

 and Investigations on the Jay,' b}- Curt Loos; ' The First Arrival Dates of 

 Various Migrant Birds in the Sprmg of the Years 1887 [= 1897] to 1903 by 

 Dr. Ludwig v. Lorenz with the cooperation of Dr. Morez Sassi; ' On the 

 Influence of the Weather on the Arrival of ^Migrant Birds in Spring,' by 

 Dr. A. Defant. 



The last two are of particular interest to all students of migration. Dr. 

 Lorenz had at his disposal the records of no less than 442 observers located 

 in an area about equal to that of the state of Arizona. Apparently only 

 the date of first arrival is recorded by each observer and the mere tabula- 

 tion of these for the thirty species considered, forms an immense mass of 

 records. The graphic representation of these data is ingenious. A map is 

 devoted to each species for each year and the date of arrival at each sta- 

 tion is indicated by a colored dot. Red represents an arrival between 

 March 2 and 6; orange, March 7-11; yellow, March 12-16; etc. to blue 

 and \'iolet, in the order of the spectnun. An early year shows a preponder- 

 ance of red dots while in a later one yellow or green dots wiU prevail. 



» The Birds of Australia. Yol. Ill, Part 5. Witherby & Co. London, March 

 26, 1914. 



2 Die Schwalbe. Berichte Komitees fiir Omithologische Beobachtungs-Sta- 

 tionen in Osterreich. Redigiert von Dr. Ludwig Ritter Lorenz von Libumau. 

 Neue Folge III, 1902-191.3. Herausgegeben von der Omithologischen Sektion 

 der K. K. Zool.-Bot. Gesellschaft in Wien. pp. 1-157, pll. 9. 



